


Invisible

by Earth_Fire_Skye



Series: The Chronicles of 'I' [1]
Category: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Genre: AU after Secret Mine, Angst, Anime!E. Gadd, Anime!King boo, Anime!Luigi, Asshole!Mario, Bottom!Luigi, Deaged!E. Gadd, Drama, Fluff, Human!King Boo, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I'm a horrible person, Love at First Sight, M/M, Named!King Boo, Possible Kink, Sane!King Boo, Slash, Updated weekly, WTF!Pairings, oh dear god, references to other things, why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 20:15:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 64,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3501428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Earth_Fire_Skye/pseuds/Earth_Fire_Skye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Words are twisted, hearts are broken, and blood is spilled. A bond of brotherhood is destroyed and an unexpected person will pick up the pieces of this ghost buster's shattered heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So I've recently beaten the second Luigi's Mansion Game: Dark Moon, and I really enjoyed it. Actually, I'm kind of obsessed with how pretty the levels are and how I would love to live there, especially in the Haunted Towers. Of course, that's only if there aren't any ghosts and everything's in top condition.... 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own this. I just happily play the games and dream my twisted dreams.

' _Well_ ,' he thought. ' _My brother officially is a Grade-A Asshole_.' The idea of how cruel his sibling had recently been to him crossed his mind and the brunet felt a small shiver of sadness ripple through his body. A low sigh began to work its way up his throat, but Luigi swallowed it down. Only a few weeks ago had the whole incident happened and the wounds resulting from the altercation were still fresh. Mario, only a few months after his rescue from King Boo's painting in the first mansion, had made it seem like Luigi had been the one trapped in the canvas. And that his entire adventure had been nothing but a dream. The plumber had then stolen Luigi's mansion, before promptly throwing him out of his former home. Now, thankfully, Luigi was relaxing in his own house, far away from Mario. Though it was a lot smaller than what he had become used to, it had quickly become home. Leaning back in the leather chair that he was currently lounging in, Luigi closed his eyes and let himself drift off, content to simply dream of his past adventures.

* * *

 

E. Gadd twisted the wrench three times, carefully tightening the nut holding the gears together. Behind him he could hear the cheerful laughter of the Greenies that helped out in his lab. A small smile formed on his lips, and he relaxed happily. E. Gadd, old as he was at 35, enjoyed working with these spectral beings and often took time to visit all those who lived here in the Evershade Valley. Shifting his eyes to look out the window, the scientist glanced up at the Dark Moon hanging high over the valley. It's dark purple light kept the ghosts peaceful and benign, making it the best place to study paranormal activity. He turned his gaze back to his work, never noticing the shadow that momentarily blocked the light in the widow. If he had, well then, perhaps the events of this story would be different. But he hadn't and that had made all the difference.

Floating up towards the moon, King Boo let out a mad cackle of laughter. This was way too easy. He had finally found a gem that could safely channel his power, and had immediately placed it in his crown. Turning his gaze back to the Dark Moon, the king couldn't help the sneer that crossed his mouth. Such a disgusting thing. The crown on his head glowed with a bright purple light and he shifted his weight forward just enough to send the huge blast at the moon. There was a brief battle before his magic won out and the Dark Moon exploded in a burst of light, its six shards separating to land in all different parts of the valley. Immediately fog began to cover the valley, hiding each section from sight.

Back in Gloomy Manor, the movement of the benign Greenies skidded to a halt. The pupils in their eyes disappeared and they began to destroy E. Gadd's lab. The professor froze, staring in minute horror before he caught himself and fled from the room as fast as he could. Quickly making his way out of the Manor, E. Gadd raced towards his bunker, barely managing to dodge all the attacks aimed at him. As soon as he was inside, the scientist locked the door, sank down into the nearest chair to catch his breath and tried to let his mind wrap around what had just happened. Then he jumped up. He would need help with this, and only one name had come to mind. Luigi.

* * *

 

The wind howled loudly outside of Luigi's home, but the brunet was deeply asleep and didn't hear it. The low hum of the television was simply background noise, and easily ignored, until it became an irritating form of static. Light blue eyes flickered open, and the brunet glanced at the error screen on his television. Forcing his tired body to leave the chair, Luigi made his way across the six feet of carpet and placed a hand on the button to turn off the device. He was just about to push it when E. Gadd's face appeared on the screen. The brunet was not able to stamp on his ghost-hunting honed reflexes, and recoiled back violently, flipping over his leather chair to land behind it.

E. Gadd let out a cough of embarrassment. Luigi, recognizing who it was, stepped back around and flopped lazily onto the chair. “Whatcha need, E. Gadd?”

“Well, I....” The scientist paused and really looked the former Ghost-Wrangler over. The three year passing of time really had done Luigi well, as it seemed like the brunet had gotten younger. Dark reddish-brown hair framed his face, he no longer had a mustache, and..... his nose was smaller?

The brunet seemed to sense the question before it was asked. “Surgery. I got sick of running into doors,” Luigi snorted. “and I grew my hair out and shaved so I'd look less like my.... –Mario.” His lips twisted into a form of a grimace that E. Gadd easily saw. And it was true. Luigi was taller, easily reaching 5'9”, and because his nose was smaller, his pretty blue eyes had quickly become the highlight of his face.

The scientist shook his head slightly, barely managing to refocus on what the problem was. “I need your help, sonny! It's an emergency! The ghosts have gone hostile!”

Luigi's eyebrow went up. “Hostile?”

E. Gadd ignored him. “Never mind that. I'm preparing the Pixelator! Hold still, young feller!” And with that he hit several keys. Instantly Luigi was separated into multiple pixels and sucked into the screen. The brunet wasn't sure if he wanted to sigh or swear violently. When he re-pixelated, landing flat on his ass in the process, the brunette chose to go with the latter. The string of words that escaped his lips sent E. Gadd deep into bright red cheek territory and the young male couldn't help but feel smug.The scientist clapped his hands a few times and spun his chair around. “Greetings, Luigi! I knew our paths would cross again.” He then blinked slowly.

Luigi glanced around at the bunker, blue eyes watching everything silently. “You seem a bit tense, son. Relax! We're perfectly safe here in this impenetrable Bunker.” E. Gadd ignored the dark look Luigi gave him and bounced happily in his chair. “Anyhoo, it's been too long, my boy! What have you been up to?” The elder man didn't even pause to let the brunet talk. “I imagine you've been off adventuring with that daredevil brother of yours.”

Luigi stiffened violently at the mention of Mario, but thankfully, E. Gadd didn't seem to notice. “Me? Oh, I've just been continuing my research on paranormal happenings and whatnot. In fact, after out last adventure, I became somewhat of an authority in the field! But enough about that. Let me fill you in on our ghostly predicament!” The scientist pointed at a purple outline of a crescent moon on one of the nearby screens. “See that on the screen? That there is the Dark Moon. It's a mysterious celestial body that has a pacifying effect on all of the ghosts in Evershade Valley.”

He spun his chair again and sighed under his breath. “When I heard about it, I jumped at the rare chance to study ghosts in a peaceful environment.” Another spin, this time accompanied with delighted laughter. “It was incredible, my boy! I was doing some of the best research of my long and studied career!” E. Gadd's face darkened in fury. “That is, until something snapped inside the ghosts and they suddenly got hostile! It got so bad, I had to escape from the Gloomy Manor and hide here, where the ghosts can't find me. I barely made it out alive.”

E. Gadd rubbed his chin. “Of course, I'm not one to sit around and twiddle my thumbs. I wanted to know why the ghosts freaked out. So I settled in and did some research to figure out what happened. That's when I discovered something truly astonishing: the Dark Moon had vanished from the sky! And on top of that, the whole of Evershade Valley had become enveloped in an eerie fog.” The elder male ran a hand through his gray-ish silver hair, making its spikes stick up even more. “Now, I can't be sure, but I think the disappearance of the Dark Moon is what caused all this mess.” He sighed under his breath. “And what a mess it is! If we don't do something about it, the ghosts might leave this valley and terrorize the world beyond! Worse still, my research will go to waste! We can't let that happen, my boy! Now, I've got good news and bad news. Wait here.”

The scientist hopped off of his chair and hurried over to a cabinet. He pulled the door open, grabbed something, shut the door, and returned to his chair. Placing his hand into Luigi's range of sight, he opened it until the brunet could see what was lying in his palm. It was a dark purple shard, almost the size of his head, and it was sizzling with a dark energy. “The good news is that I found a fragment of the Dark Moon nearby! The bad news is that I found a fragment of the Dark Moon nearby, meaning the thing's broken. And this Dark Moon piece seems to be corrupted by some sort of energy.” He sighed under his breath. “Damn. I reckon it's a disruptive energy that suppresses the Dark Moon's ability to pacify ghosts! But lucky for us, I've got inventions for all kinds of situations! Stand back, sonny!”

E. Gadd spun around and nailed a few things on his nearby keyboard. A device emerged out of the ground and the scientist placed the fragment of the Moon onto the center. Four brushed popped out of the sides and began to clean the shard. “Heh heh! I've done it, Luigi! It seems to have gained its original power! And did you hear that whooshing noise outside, youngster? Let me check my instruments.” He typed a few more things into the keyboard and a large map of the valley slid down. A blinking light appeared, showing that Gloomy Manor was accessible. “Look! The fog around Gloomy Manor is gone! More importantly, it means that restoring the Dark Moon will solve all our problems! If we find all the Dark Moon pieces, the fog in the valley will vanish and the ghosts will return to normal.” Then he frowned. “But until then, all those ghosts will need to be contained. That's where you come in, Luigi.”

The brunet frowned slightly. “Do I even get a choice in this?”

“Nope!” E. Gadd called out cheerfully.

“Oh well. At least I get to do something. I was beginning to get bored.”

E. Gadd stared at him for a few seconds. “Why, you're the best ghost wrangler I know, son! Coincidentally, you're also the only ghost wrangler I know......... So, what do you say, young feller? Will you help me capture the ghosts and restore the Dark Moon?”

Luigi straightened up. “Damn straight I will.”

“Perfect! It'll be just like old times!” E. Gadd spun his chair around for the nth time and clapped happily. Luigi couldn't help but wonder what he had just gotten himself into. Again.


	2. A-1: Poltergust 5000

“Well, the only way out of this mess is to restore the Dark Moon. Which means you're going to need some ghost-hunting gear, son! But wouldn't you know it––I left my new Poltergust 5000 somewhere inside the Gloomy Manor. So now that I've cleared that blasted fog from around the place, I'm sending you in after it!” E. Gadd paused suddenly and spun around, grabbing something off of a nearby table as he went. When the scientist came to a stop, Luigi realized exactly what it was. An updated version of the Gameboy Horror. “Look familiar? This customized DS has an interactive map of the Gloomy Manor on it. It also allows me to communicate with you while you're exploring.” Luigi picked it up and placed it into one of the many pockets on his leather pants. Glancing up at E. Gadd, the brunet was barely able to catch the flashlight the man threw at him. 

“Hey, watch it!”

“And it's mighty dark in there, so you'll want this flashlight.” The scientist clearly ignored Luigi's spluttering. “Now, check your map––I'm marking an important location there.” The brunet pulled out the DS. E. Gadd spun around, instantly beginning to type wildly on the keyboard and Luigi watched in interest as the Garage was marked with an exclamation point on his map. “That's the Garage. I think that's where I left the Poltergust 5000.” Luigi nodded and flipped the DS closed before sliding it back into its pocket. E. Gadd clapped his hands happily. “You ready, son? I'll zap you to the Gloomy Manor with my new and largely untested Pixelator!” The brunet froze mid-step.

“Untested?”

“Let's hope all of the pixels make it this time. Heh heh. Hold onto your hat!” He then whirled around, pressed a button and, once again, Luigi found himself being sucked into cyberspace. It was a whirling mess of colors and the moment he was reformed outside of the Gloomy Manor, he was so disoriented that he landed flat on his ass. Glancing around at his scenery, it was then that Luigi decided that he was going to murder E. Gadd when he returned to the bunker. 

Lightening split the sky and Luigi couldn't help the sigh that escaped from his lips. “Oh boy. Here we go again....” He had landed on a large stone pathway lined on both sides by a sharp tipped fence. There were a few dark purple and black crows sitting on the points and the brunet wasn't quite able to resist the urge to flip them off. The stupid birds scattered as soon as he neared them, and a sharp smirk twitched his lips upwards. Luigi stiffened when the huge silver gate at the end of the path opened for him, but walked cautiously through. The crash that the gate made when it slammed shut behind him made Luigi jump and swear loudly. 

With his back to the silver gate, Luigi glanced around at the Front Yard of the Gloomy Manor. There was a pool on the left, with some sort of fish statue in the center. Behind that was a planted row of four fully grown, but not yet open, flowers. The brunet wondered briefly if there was some sort of way to get them to bloom. Moving silently up the stairs that led to the porch, he noted that there was a sort of moving green blob in the window all the way to the left. Walking swiftly up to the window, he rubbed years of soot and grime off of the window before peering in.

Inside was the Garage, and he instantly zoomed in on the Greenie in the old car. It was nailing the horn, but stopped when a second Greenie came out of the hood. In its ghostly hand was a small greenish light bulb-like object. Luigi sighed and instantly knew that he would be fetching the thing later. Damn. Stepping back from the window, he moved back towards the front door, all the while wondering how he was going to get into the Manor. There was a small squeaking noise from down by his feet and Luigi glanced down to see a mouse. A mouse that had its tail wrapped around key. The brunet would bet his life that the key was the one that would unlock the front door. Just as he made a move to grab the key, the mouse fled, racing down the steps towards the gate. “Fuck.” Luigi muttered, before taking off after the damn rodent. He needed that key.

Actually catching the stupid rat wasn't that hard. He had leapt over the fountain that the stupid rodent was hiding behind and landed directly in its path. Snatching the key from its tail, Luigi let out a sigh of relief before turning and walking up towards the entrance door to the manor. Easily he slid the key into the lock and turned it to the right. There was the sharp clunk of the door unlocking and the brunet took a step back, just in time to watch the key dissolve. With a frown, Luigi pulled the door open and carefully stepped into the Entrance Room. The door to the Front Yard slammed shut behind him, and he recoiled slightly. 

The Entrance was not that large, with three doors. One to the left, one to the right, and one straight ahead. The one to the left led to the Garage and Luigi began to walk towards the door. It slid open easily to reveal the silent scene that he had looked into through the window in the Front Yard. There was a pile of debris at the workbench, and a car sitting in the middle of the area. He couldn't suppress the shiver that ran down his spine every time a beam creaked. Walking over to the car, he lifted the hood and pulled out the Poltergust 5000. Slipping it on, he was just in time to hear the DS start to ring. 

“Ah, you've found it! Good work, Luigi. That there is the new-and-improved Poltergust 5000! Before you go hunting ghosts, why don't you test it out on some of the junk in that room? Go on! Giver 'er a whirl!” And with that, E. Gadd cut the connection. Luigi placed the DS back into its pocket and glanced around the room. There certainly were a lot of coins placed in different areas. The brunet's blue eyes narrowed. Oh well, it was free money. He might as well take advantage of it. After cleaning out the Garage of money, and finding a key in the process, Luigi turned his gaze to the window. There were two green shapes moving just outside. Outside in the rain were two Greenies playing catch with the green light bulb. The game ended when one threw it through the window behind the other, shattering the glass with a crash. Pulling back from the window, Luigi sighed and glanced back towards the door that led to the Entrance room. Might as well explore some other rooms. 

Stepping into the entrance room, Luigi glanced up and noted the single coin in the chandelier. Sucking it off, and making all the candles go dark at once, yielded an explosion of money, including a gold bar. The brunet's eyes narrowed. This... was suspicious. The door to the right led to the Mudroom. Glancing around, he noted the white shape bouncing around outside the window, a carpet that looked like it could be rolled up, and a key on the ceiling fan. Turning the Poltergust on, he spun the fan blades around in a circle until the key was launched off. Then he rolled up the rug to reveal what looked like a pressure plate. A part of the molding near the window moved when he stepped on it and money was launched out of the hiding place. Glancing at the money counter in his wallet, Luigi noted that he was now at 385 dollars. With a low sigh, he stepped back into the Entrance room and turned to face the door guarded by statues of armor. It was then Luigi noticed that the helmets actually moved to watch him. “That's pretty fucking creepy....”

Unlocking the door to the Guard Hall and stepping into the room, the first thing Luigi noticed was the two Greenies at the end of the hall. The moment they noticed him, the two began playing Hot-Potato with the light bulb before the one on the right shoved it into the left one's hands and then fled through the door near them. Luigi let out a strangled noise, stepped forward, and promptly hurled himself backwards when the nearest suit of armor attempted to remove his head from his shoulders. Running down the hallway as fast as he could, the brunet threw himself to safety and slipped the key into the lock. Unlocking it swiftly, Luigi slipped through the small gap he had made and, once on the other side, sagged against the doorway before breathing a sigh of relief. That had been way too close.

The Foyer was cold. Luigi glanced around and noted the two Greenies laughing in the center of the room. One of them pointed upwards and the brunet glanced up to see the light bulb stuck on one of the candles in the chandelier. Then they noticed him, and quickly fled into a room on the right. Luigi pulled himself up and moved towards the stairs. Walking up them, he stepped around the two corners and aimed the vacuum at the wheel on top of the chandelier. It spun down and around, lowering the chandelier to the floor. Walking down the staircase, Luigi swiped the light bulb from the candle and screwed it into its spot on the Poltergust 5000. Then, out of nowhere, the DS went off. 

“The Strobe-light is a powerful tool. For one thing, it can activate any of my inventions that feature green circular panels. Try it on the nearby door.”

Luigi put the DS away and snorted. “What do I look like, a pack mule?” Turning to face the locked door, he powered up the Strobe-light all the way before releasing it. A sharp flash lit up the corner of the room and the panel beeped. The bars locking the doors slid open and the brunet opened the door. It lead to the Coat Room. A Coat Room that had a toilet. Curious enough to forget his original training, Luigi poked the thing and therefore couldn't react fast enough when the whole section of the floor twisted, sliding to face a hidden room. He was thrown off of the wooden circle and slammed directly into the floor. Gritting his teeth from the pain, Luigi pulled himself to his feet and threw the shower curtain open. In the stream of running water was one of the two Greenies that he had been chasing down. It shrieked and fled through the wall to the left.

Hopping onto the toilet, Luigi let it spin him back to the main Coat Room and he charged up the flash. The moment the Greenie poked its head out of the closet, the brunet released the charge, and stunned the ghost. From there it was easy to suck it into the vacuum. Its partner lunged at him from the closet, but it was relatively simple to suck it up too. Turning his gaze to the door, Luigi stepped back into the Foyer and froze. There were at least four different Greenies tearing the place up! But they were still easy to take care of. Then the DS went off. Again. He ground his teeth together, pulled it out of its pocket, and opened it. “That's the spirit, Luigi. Literally! Ho ho! Oho! Hooo... Just like old times, eh, feller? All right, that's enough for now. I'll bring you back to the Bunker.

Slamming the stupid thing shut, Luigi was barely able to contain the snarl of fury. He was going to rip E. Gadd a new one. The pixelation wasn't that bad the second time around, but it was still disorienting. At least he managed to land on his feet this time. 

“You made it back! And with all of your pixels to boot!” E. Gadd spun around in delight. That was the last straw for Luigi. With a snarl he lunged forward and cuffed the scientist hard around the head.

“You are a fucking asshole!” he snarled. 

“Er.... good work, sonny?” E. Gadd giggled sheepishly before sighing. “We might just make it out of this mess. Let's see what you sucked up with the Poltergust 5000.” He pulled lever at his side and some sort of pipe popped out of the ground. Luigi slid the head of the vacuum into it and watched as it emptied. He briefly wondered where everything went. E. Gadd seemed to notice his question, for he answered it. “Incredible! I'll start studying these ghosts posthaste. Anyway, all the stuff collect goes down to the super-safe Vault below. It's a good idea to visit it often to check your progress and see the results of my studies. I have ghost descriptions, hints.... even each ghosts spectral mass! Knowledge is power, after all! OK, I'll scan the Gloomy Manor in search of paranormal signals. I reckon the ghost that took the other Dark Moon pieces is hiding in there.” 

Luigi scowled rather darkly before turning and stomping down the nearest hallway. He desperately needed a shower. 


	3. A-2: Gear Up

When Luigi woke up the next morning, it was to E. Gadd already waiting for him at his computer. Silently the brunet grabbed a cup of coffee and walked up to stand in front of him. “Ready for some more action? Ah, you're a courageous lad.” E. Gadd sighed happily. “You know, you remind me of myself at your age, feller. Ho ho! Those were the days....”

Luigi snorted. “You're thirty five, dammit. You're not that old.”

He smiled dreamily for a few seconds before spinning the chair around. “Anyhoo, we need to start searching for the rest of the Dark Moon. Luckily, I've got just the invention to make our job easier! I call it the Parascope, a tip-top device that detects and measures distant paranormal signals. In fact, I just used it to scan the Gloomy Manor, and I found some strong activity in the north rooms.” He paused and gave Luigi a meaningful look.

The brunet just stared at him. “What, you want me to do something about it?”

“That would be appreciated, yes. That's where we'll start our search.” He laughed cheerfully. “Now, details. There's a mechanism that controls the access to that section.” E. Gadd whirled around and typed a few things on the computer. “The access mechanism is in the Foyer. I'll give you instructions once you get there.” Luigi pulled out the DS and watched as the room was highlighted with an exclamation point. “Got all that? Good! Now get a move on!” The scientist pulled the lever and Luigi was sucked into the Pixelator.

He landed in the Entrance. It was tough, but Luigi managed to stick it, and stay on his feet. One of these days the brunet was going to either hurt himself, or gut E. Gadd for trying to get him killed. Either way, the reaction was sure to be entertaining. Glancing around, he didn't notice anything different and turned to walk down the Guard Hall towards the Foyer. Dodging the suits of armor wasn't as hard this time and the brunet quietly opened the door to the Foyer. He glanced into the room through the crack of the open door and promptly froze. At the access mechanism was a bright red ghost, a Slammer. Luigi swallowed hard, and watched in silent horror was it smashed the mechanism and grabbed the four needed gears. Three of them went to three other Slammers and the first one took the fourth. Then two of them disappeared through the left wall on the second floor, while the other two went through the wall on the first floor.

The DS went off and Luigi picked it up. “God damn ghosts! Luigi, those brutes just stole the gears from the access mechanism I told you about! I'll use the Parascope to find 'em. Then you can use the map on the DS to hunt 'em down! That reminds me, from now on, I'm going to call the DS–– this is genius–– the Duel Scream! Ho ho! The Duel Scream! Hooo” The scientist spent the next minute or so screaming in laughter at his own joke. Luigi was not impressed. “.... Interact with the map on the Duel Scream to locate the brute ghosts in the west wing. For now, get those gears back! Look lively!” Then E. Gadd was gone and the brunet shut the Duel Scream and slipped it back into its pocket. He then sighed. This sure was getting complicated fast, wasn't it.

Grumbling under his breath, Luigi moved towards the open door on the left, only to have it slammed on his face. Out of the fish statue came a Greenie with a key. It fled down through the door to the Guard Hall and, somehow, Luigi knew that he would find it in the Entrance room. The brunet's eyes narrowed. So that's how it's gonna be, huh? He stormed down through the door towards the entrance and threw open the door. The crash of the door against the wall momentarily frightened the Greenie, and it froze where it was. Luigi charged up the Strobe-light and released it. Stunning the damn ghost made it easy to suck it into the vacuum. The key fell to the ground and Luigi picked it up. He smirked. “Piece of cake.” Then he turned and made his way back to the Foyer.

Walking up to the locked door on the left, Luigi swiftly opened it and stepped through to the Common Hall. From there he had two choices. The Lab and the Studio. The brunet figured he'd grab the Lab first, mainly because it was the closest.

Stepping into the Lab, Luigi was greeted with a mostly darkened room. Most of the stuff in it was broken, and the brunet stepped around a good chunk of the mess. On the back wall was a blackboard that was spinning lazily. Curious, and definitely suspicious, he stepped forward and spun it faster. From out of the dizzying spin came a Greenie, while another appeared from some other part of the room. Stunning and capturing both was easily. Then, from the table that had the electrical current thing, came the Slammer. It wasn't as easy to catch as the Greenies, but it wasn't that bad. The moment it was pulled into the vacuum, the clink of a gear landing on a nearby table made Luigi look up. There it was, the first of four. The brunet let out a sigh of relief. That hadn't been as bad as he had thought.

The entrance to the Studio was blocked. But sucking on the wallpaper with the vacuum revealed a Secret Pocket. Luigi slid into it and collected the key at the end of the narrow hall before turning to look through the hole into the Studio. In the Studio itself were two Hiders messing around. A glance to the right showed that the door was blocked by a pile of dust and debris. Luigi was unable to stifle his sigh. Stepping out of the Secret Pocket, he headed back to the Foyer and walked up the stairs towards the second floor. Unlocking the door at the top, he stepped through it into the Master Hall. Pulling a coin out of his pocket, he flipped it. Heads. The Parlor it was, then.

Opening the door to the Parlor, Luigi was greeted with the sight of a shaking record player. Well then, I guess that's where the ghosts are hiding. He stepped forward and let it play. Instantly two Greenies appeared, but they were easy enough to stun and suck up. Then the Slammer came out. It too was quickly dealt with and the second gear was recovered. The brunet flopped onto the floor and sighed. This was a lot harder than he had originally thought. _Just what have I signed up onto? Oh wait, I didn't even get a choice. Stupid E. Gadd..... Damn, I really do need to get laid. Especially if I'm this wound up. Now, who could be my taste here? There's nothing but ghosts, dammit!_ Luigi made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and rolled over to press his face into the carpet. Then his sighed again and pulled himself to his feet. _No use getting upset over nothing. At least I can enjoy myself here. After all, there is a reason why I'm interested in this sort of thing. HAH! The one thing Mario can't do. All because he's scared of ghosts._ Pulling open the door, Luigi stepped out into the Master Hall and walked over to the door of the Bedroom. Please let this one be as easy as the others.

Stepping into the room, the first thing Luigi did was liberate it of all its hidden money. Then he, out of pure curiosity, yanked on the bell cord near the obviously fake door. A bed was pulled from the wall and he sat down on it. It was comfy. Flopping down entirely, he was completely unprepared for the bed to slam back into place, hurling him into the, otherwise unreachable, Study. Of course, he was slammed directly into the wall. Boy did that one hurt. Grinding his teeth together, Luigi pulled himself to his feet and glanced around for the gear. When he did see it, the brunet grinned. It was sitting in some sort of open wall safe. Obviously a trap, but he didn't see anything else around. Might as well give it a shot. Three feet to go to reach the gear and the safe was slammed shut by a Greenie. It was soon joined by three others and then the Slammer. After sucking them into the vacuum, Luigi collected the gear, rolled up the carpet and then stepped onto the pressure plate. It put out the fire and he cautiously stepped into where the logs were once burning. Instantly the flooring gave out beneath him, and Luigi was dropped into a room that he immediately recognized as the Studio on the first floor.

The two Hiders that had been painting in the room instantly scattered, hiding in the various vases around the walls. While taking one out, Luigi had been nailed in the back with a log. That had hurt quite a bit and the brunet was quickly becoming even more pissed off than he already was. Capturing them heralded the appearance of the Slammer and it too, was quickly captured. Rubbing his eyes, Luigi was just about to flop to the floor when the Duel Scream went off. “Luigi! How goes it, my boy? You found all four gears? That quick?”

The brunet's eyes narrowed. “So nice of you to have faith in me.” he snapped.

E. Gadd ignored him. “Ho ho... Well, you got there in the end. Good work, sonny! Now head back to the Foyer and put the gears back into the access mechanism.” And with that he was gone. Luigi rolled his eyes. Such a lovely person E. Gadd was. The brunet snorted under his breath before quickly searching the room for any money. After finding all there was, he stepped out through the door into the Common Hallway and headed towards the Foyer.

There he was horrified to find that the gears didn't fit the mechanism. Once again, the Duel Scream went off. “Why the long face, Luigi?” There was a pause as the brunet told him exactly what the problem was. “Damn! The gears don't fit into the mechanism? Those brute ghosts must have bent them or something. I suppose I'll have to repair them in order to make 'em work.” He sighed, “Well, at least you recovered all of them! And it looks like you captured some very interesting ghosts. I can't wait to check 'em out. I'm bringing you back now.” Luigi put away the Duel Scream and was sucked into the Pixelator. He landed daintily on his feet and gave E. Gadd a rather dark look.

The Scientist seemed to look sheepish, but it quickly disappeared. “Good work, Luigi! I knew I should have called you first.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Luigi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Should have called me first? Who the hell did you call before me? Santa?"

“Ahem. Let's have a look at those gears.” The brunet snorted before handing them over. E. Gadd glanced at them before slipping them away. “Hmm. I'll come up with something to make 'em work again. Now,” he clapped his hands delightedly, “let's unload the Poltergust and see what kind of ghostly goodies you got.” Luigi just sighed but went along with the whole thing. E. Gadd spun his chair around. “I was right ––these new ghosts are very interesting indeed! Such spectacular specimens! And they won't be making any more trouble for us now that they're in the vault. Now, scram! I need to figure out a way to make those gears work again.”

Luigi sniffed daintily. “You, E. Gadd, are an ass.” And with that he strode off down the hallway to get a shower and a cup of strong coffee. He needed it right now. Even if it meant raiding the scientist's personal stores. If anything the man certainly deserved a little bit of panic at this time. Especially for all the shit that he had put Luigi through.


	4. A-3: Quiet Please!

When Luigi woke up the next morning, it was to the smell of coffee brewing. The brunet pulled himself out of bed and staggered down the hallway to the kitchen. E. Gadd was already waiting for him, gear piled up on the table. Luigi's eyes narrowed. “You do this for me, Luigi. I'll have coffee ready every morning. Do you like any particular kinds?”

He practically ripped the cup from E. Gadd's hands and pretended not to notice the scientist checking to see if his fingers were still attached. “Done. No I don't have a favorite coffee and I wouldn't mind a breakfast either. Now what the hell do you want?” His eyes narrowed from where they were hidden behind the mug.

E. Gadd held his hands up in a placating manner and sighed. “The access mechanism in the Foyer. Here you go.” He handed Luigi an odd looking instrument. “Use this crank to operate the access mechanism.” He shoved it into Luigi's arms, clapped once, and the brunet hid it away in one of the many pockets on his pants. “Once you do that, you'll be able to access the north rooms of Gloomy Manor.” He suddenly paused as piano music began to play, before lunging at his keyboard and typing frantically. “What the hell! You hear that? The Parascope is picking up an audible signal from the very same area we're trying to reach! Let's see here..... It's..... music! How odd. If I remember right, there's a grand piano in the Library. Maybe a ghost is playing around on it. Anyway, let's mark where you need to go first on the map...” Luigi pulled out the Duel Scream and sighed when he saw that the Library was highlighted. The brunet did seem to be sighing a lot lately. “Luigi, this is the strongest paranormal signal we've seen yet. With a signal that strong, I reckon the ghost playing the piano might be giving orders to the other ghosts!” He began to bounce in his seat. “No time to waste, my boy! Get to the Library, and catch that ghost!” And with that, E. Gadd activated the Pixelator.

Luigi once again appeared in the Entrance room, but this time he easily managed to land on his feet. Turning around, he walked through the Guard Hall towards the Foyer, the music growing louder with each step. It was the same set of chords played over and over, and the brunet was gearing up to tear the asshole ghost a new one. Walking up to the access mechanism, he placed the crank into the slot and began to turn the handle. With each twist, the large aquarium at the top of the stairs receded down into the ground until it was a stable path to walk across on the second floor. Luigi sniffed. That was actually pretty intelligent of E. Gadd to create something like this. Talking the stairs up to the second floor, he stepped up to the now accessible door on the other side of where the fish tank used to be and slowly opened it.

The room on the other side was dark and Luigi instantly stiffened. There were two Greenies chattering away in front of an elevator, but the moment they spotted him, they vanished. A simple stun and suck in later, and the brunet turned around slowly as the elevator dinged. The doors slid open revealing a Slammer and four spiders. A single, fully charged flash took care of the spiders, and the Slammer was stunned. From there it was easy to drain the brute's strength and suck it into the vacuum. Checking the room for money, Luigi managed to find 123 gold hidden in various areas. He sighed under his breath. At least the brunet wasn't going to be broke for a while. Stepping through the door at the north western end, he realized that was on the second floor of the Library.

There really did seem to be a ghost playing the piano. Huge, hard cover books floated through the air to the tune, and once in a while, one would attempt to attack him. The only other way out was the door all the way on the other side of the balcony, and Luigi made a run for it. By nailing the four gold colored spiders along with the two golden mice, he managed to collect 120 gold in that room alone. Pulling the door open, he slipped through the gap and slammed it shut behind himself. There was the heavy thud of multiple books slamming into the hard wood and Luigi sniffed. That had been downright rude, if not reaching the many different levels of crude. Much like Mario.

The Dining Room was relatively simple to clear out, just a bunch of mice. The pull cord hanging from the ceiling near the dumbwaiter on the other hand, was much more interesting. Yanking on the cord, the door hiding the dumbwaiter opened and Luigi situated himself inside the device, just waiting for the drop. He wasn't disappointed. It was sudden and slammed him into the floor one level below. The wooden door slid open and he jumped out, silently surveying the Kitchens. It was dark, with a single kettle seemingly floating over the wooden stove. Seeing nothing around, Luigi walked towards the door to the Library, but jumped back when a dark purple, ghost-like grate slammed down, completely blocking the way out. A Greenie appeared out of the stove, wearing a pot like a helmet and wielding a rolling pin as a weapon. The brunet quickly figured out that he was unable to flash them while they were wearing the helmet, but whenever they swung at him and missed, they would lift the pot up to see where he was. Taking the first one out, Luigi wasn't surprised to see two more appear. They were just as easy to deal with, and as soon as the purple grates disappeared, the brunet turned to face the door to the Library.

Stepping into the book filled room, Luigi stared at the moving keys on the piano. An orange ghost filtered into view, its big head filled with what looked like a purplish brain. It played rather well for a ghost. The brunet must have made some sort of noise, for the spectral being's head snapped towards him and it swiftly stopped playing. Then it floated up off the piano seat, books whirling around it, cackled madly, and promptly disappeared. Luigi couldn't help but curse. Glancing around, he noted the five or so piles of books on the ground. One on the far right was kind of glowing, and a single book lifted itself off of the pile. Then it hurled itself through the air towards him. Luigi jumped out of the way and charged up the Strobe-light. Nailing the Poltergeist directly, the brunet was relieved to note that he had gotten it on the first try.

Then, to a mixture of horror, irritation, and annoyance, two more of the damn orange ghosts appeared. The first one went down rather quickly, but Luigi was very annoyed to discover that the other one tended to use books as shields against the Strobe-light. It took three more tries, but eventually he managed to stun it and suck the Poltergeist into the vacuum. Just as he was collecting the last of the gold in the room, the Duel Scream went off.

“You OK, Luigi?”

Said brunet gave E. Gadd an insulted look. “Nice to see you believe in me.”

The scientist coughed, clearly embarrassed. “Sorry. Standard procedure. Gotta check.” Then he smirked, “You had me worried for a minute there, kiddo!”

He ignored the sounds of Luigi choking on his own saliva. “Those big-brained ghosts sure put up a fight! The way they were throwing all those books at you......reminded me of my collage professors! Anyhoo, I'll bring you back now so I can study those magnificent specimens!” Luigi slipped the DS away and closed his eyes and rubbed, now mostly used to the feeling of the Pixelator.

He reappeared back in the bunker. E. Gadd was already waiting for him. “Good to see you back in one piece.” He pressed a button and Luigi let the Poltergust be emptied. Then the scientist began to speak again. “Those brainy Poltergeists sure are strong, but they don't seem to be in charge of the other ghosts. I reckon they're still worth studying, though!” He made a giggling noise that caused Luigi to take a rather large step back.

“HEY! I'm not that insane. Anyhoo, it's just so fascinating how some ghosts can evolve into more advanced forms.” He chuckled loudly. “I don't fully understand the nature of their power, but I will one day. That will be my legacy in the world of paranormal science!” E. Gadd leaned back in his chair and cackled loudly. When he didn't stop after a while, Luigi just sighed and left the room. He was rather hungry and eating something sounded rather good right about now.


	5. A-4: Visual Tricks

Luigi woke up the next morning in the shittiest mood he had ever been in. E. Gadd was already up, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in front of him. Another cup was at the brunet's place. The scientist glanced up at him, but froze when he saw the look on Luigi's face and immediately knew that today was not the day for any of his usual antics. Not if he wanted to remain alive and in one piece. Waiting until he was sure that the brunet wouldn't kill him if he talked, E. Gadd tapped a finger against the screen on the table in front of him. A large map of Gloomy Manor was displayed. “I tell ya, Luigi, some things in this world are just too strangle to be real. Some are real, of course, but some are......illusions.”

The brunet just kind of stared at him for a few seconds, then rose a single eyebrow. E. Gadd flushed. “Here, I have something to show you.” He pulled out a small jar. In it was a small purple ball, glowing with the light of a bluish flame. It was roughly the size of the palm of his hand. Curious, Luigi moved forward to see better, but E. Gadd pulled the jar back. “This is a Spirit Ball, a paranormal specimen with the ability to cause illusions. And someone is releasing a whole mess of 'em inside the Gloomy Manor!” He threw his unoccupied arm up in frustration. 

E. Gadd stepped back and placed the jar on a high shelf, glancing over his shoulder as he went. “That's why some of the objects in there––even whole suits of armor––have suddenly vanished. But trust me, they're still there.” He sighed under his breath, muttering something about getting his hands on whoever was doing this before perking up, almost as if he had suddenly thought of something. “Luckily, I created a special Poltergeist 5000 attachment a while back that will help us.” A press of a button brought down a screen from the ceiling.

“I call it the Dark-Light Device. It's a nifty little doodad able to break illusions, such as objects that have been turned invisible.” He tapped the button again and the screen disappeared back into the ceiling. “But with all the ghosts gone hostile, I haven't been able to return to my Lab to retrieve it. But now that you're here, you can get in there and grab it.” He tapped a few keys and Luigi instantly knew that he'd have a new location on his Duel Scream. “You'll find the Dark-Light Device attached to its charging station. It should be fully charged by now. OK, I'm sending you in. Prepare to be pixelated!” A quick tap of the button on the side of his chair sent Luigi tumbling into the machine. As soon as the brunet was out of hearing range, E. Gadd relaxed. “Man...” he muttered. “I'd hate to be the person on the wrong side of his anger.”

oOo 

Luigi landed silently on his feet in the Entrance room. From what he recalled about the layout for Gloomy Manor was that the Lab was in the Common Hall on the first floor. Turning to face the door to the Guard Hall, he sighed, stepped forward and pushed the door open. Now that he knew the movement of the armored guards, it was easy to dodge them, and the brunet sprinted down the hallway towards the door to the Foyer. Pulling open the door, his eyes narrowed slightly. Instead of being orange like he remembered, the candles lining the stairwell had a bright blue flame. Cautiously, he walked up the staircase towards the second floor. Just as he was about to step onto the final stair, they went diagonal underneath him and the brunet lost his balance, sliding all the way back down the 25 or so steps. Instantly the lights went out and all ways out of the room were removed. Purple grates slammed down over the doors and blocked the base of the stairs. The Strobe-light panels went blank, immediately shutting down. Luigi began to swear loudly.

A Hider burst out of the staircase, cackling loudly. It was joined by three more Hiders and a Slammer, before all of them disappeared. The first Hider was easy to root out, it was hiding on the left side of the room, in the dresser closest to the door to the Guard Hall. Then the Slammer smashed out of the fish stature in the center of the pool. That too was easy to remove. Finally the last two Hiders came out, they quickly scattered, hiding close enough together that Luigi wouldn't be able to catch one without getting hit by the other, but not close enough for him to get both of them at the same time. It took a lot of coordination, and being nailed in the back twice, but the brunet managed to catch one of them. From there it was easy to take out the other one. Instantly the room returned to normal. Luigi scowled darkly and walked to the nearest mirror before removing the Poltergust and turning around. Pulling up his shirt, he was greeted with the sight of two large bruises beginning to form in the middle of his back. They were already a sickly yellow-green, and Luigi snarled wordlessly. How lovely.

Pulling his shirt back into place, the brunet stomped towards the door leading to the Common Hall, which in turn lead to the Lab. Yanking the door open, Luigi walked quickly towards the room. The sooner he got this done, the sooner he could put some ice on his back. A few steps away from the door, the door to the Lab disappeared, and there was a high pitched cackling sound. Luigi let out a strangled groan. He would recognize that sound anywhere. Apparently there were Boos in Gloomy Manor. Fan-fucking-tastic. Exactly what he needed right now. Which, of course, meant that King Boo himself was skulking around here somewhere. The brunet would bet that he would definitely run into the asshole later on.

The Duel Scream went off and Luigi was unable to stifle the irritated noise that rose up in the back of his throat. “Luigi, am I seeing this right? Did the Lab's door just...... disappear?”

“No shit Sherlock.” Luigi snapped back.

E. Gadd eyed him warily. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, I got hit in the back with logs and now I have bruises the same fucking size as your head.” Luigi's blue eyes narrowed, daggers flying through the air. E. Gadd swallowed hard.

“Oh, umm.... I'll have ice ready when you get back..... Anyway, the door must have been haunted by Spirit Balls from inside the room. I'm pretty sure there's another entrance into that room. Try the second floor.” And with that he was gone. Luigi rolled his eyes, but put the Duel Scream away and returned to the Foyer. Before he even touched the first step, the brunet glanced at the flames burning merrily away on the candles. Orange. He breathed a sigh of relief. He really didn't want to slide down the stairs again, that had really hurt. Opening the door to the Master Hall, Luigi stepped into the Parlor, since that was the room above the Lab.

After carefully checking the part of the room closest to the door for any hidden money, Luigi approached the side with the fireplace. He froze, however, when the fire went out and Spirit Balls attached themselves to the nearby grandfather clock. Instantly the time keeping device faded from view, leaving the shadow of the object behind. The familiar cackle of a Boo echoed through the air. Sucking the coins down from the top of the fireplace, Luigi cautiously approached the now put-out fire. He still, rather clearly, remembered his adventure with the one that connected the Study on the second floor to the one in the Studio on the first floor. Carefully stepping into the empty area, he braced for the fall that was sure to happen.

Landing silently on his feet, he rolled forward to lessen the impact. It put hell on his back, but at least Luigi's knees weren't complaining. Much. On the far left side of the room was what looked like an attachment to the Poltergust, and it was glowing with a rainbow of colors. The brunet moved over and stared at it. It was so pretty, with its many shades, and he reached out to pick up the Dark-Light Device, only to recoil away when a Greenie with sunglasses popped out of the wall. It snatched up the flashlight attachment, laughed gleefully, before disappearing into the blackboard that was still slowly spinning in lazy circles. Luigi's eyes narrowed. He grabbed the edge of the blackboard sharply and spun it viciously in a circle. When it came to a stop, the Greenie fluttered out, obviously dizzy. Ripping its sunglasses off of its face, the brunet stunned the ghost and sucked it into the vacuum. Turning around, he was greeted with the sight of two more of the sunglasses wearing Greenies. Ones that weren't dizzy. Yanking both of their glasses off, Luigi stunned them both and sucked them into the vacuum, one right after the other. The second Greenie had the Dark-Light Device, for it popped out of the Poltergust and landed on the counter.

Removing the older flashlight, Luigi screwed the Dark-Light Device into position and pressed the button. Instantly a rainbow of colors came out of the head and the brunet cooed happily. So pretty. The DS went off. “Luigi, whoever is releasing the Spirit Balls is somehow able to avoid the Parasco–– Wait! Is that––? You found the Dark-Light Device! Good work, my boy. I'm positive there's an illusion in the room, so do try it out.” E. Gadd winked before shutting off his end. Luigi slid the Duel Scream back into his pants pocket and glanced around. On the far left wall was a dark shadow, one that a safe might leave. His eyes gleamed for a few seconds. More money was always good. Glancing at his wallet, the brunet noted that he had collected around 250 bucks today. Not bad. Then he moved over to the invisible safe and turned the Dark-Light Device on it. It glowed prettily before a group of five Spirit Balls launched themselves from the hidden object. Sucking them all into the Poltergust revealed the safe and Luigi used the Strobe-light to flash it.

Money poured out of the safe. 53 dollars to be exact. Then a thought hit Luigi, the black and white paintings that looked like a key or money, maybe the Dark-Light device worked on those too Walking over to the hidden door, he used the device on it to force the Spirit Balls out of the hidden area. Sucking them up revealed the door that he promptly used to leave the Laboratory. Luigi had things that he needed to do. Right now. Such as collecting money from those paintings. When he was finally done, the brunet collected over 400 bucks from the things. He was now up to 710 dollars total.

Walking down the Common Hall towards the Library, Luigi recalled seeing a painting with a key on it near the door. Using the Dark-Light Device, he removed it from its canvas and picked it up. Glancing at his map, the brunet noted that there should be a door right next to him. A glance to the right revealed nothing but blank wall. His eyes narrowed. Perhaps it was hidden? Revealing it quickly, he sucked up the Spirit Balls and used his new key to unlock the door to the Patio.

Walking quietly down the path, Luigi picked every bit of money that he could and paused when he reached the end of the stone path. There was obviously something there, seeing as the crows couldn't be sitting on nothing, and promptly revealed it. It was a statue. Of E. Gadd. The brunet sighed, rubbed his eyes, and aimed the vacuum at the spinning helicopter wheel on the top of the stone scientist's jet pack. The statue lifted up to reveal a hiding spot, where a key to another door was hidden. Glancing at his map, Luigi noted that the only entrance was towards the Kitchen, and the brunet knew that it was the next room. Opening the door, he stepped through only to stop and stare. A Greenie was using a rolling pin on a fish, and it was making the cutest noises of delight ever.

All movement stopped in the Kitchen as the ghosts turned to stare at the laughing brunet. He cooed at the ghosts when he looked up. “You guys are so cute.” The words apparently made them mad as Luigi was attacked by a Greenie, two Hiders, and a Greenie wearing a pot helmet and wielding a rolling pin as a weapon. All were taken down rather quickly, though the brunet did take a direct swing of the rolling pin to his side. Luigi sighed under his breath after he had finished clearing out the area. He was so taking a personal day after this. If only to let his bruises heal.

Moving over to the pull cord and the dumbwaiter, Luigi yanked on the rope and situated himself inside the wooden chute. As he stepped out of it in the Dining Room, he suddenly froze and went quiet. A Boo was floating over the table, and he watched as it created several Spirit Balls that created the illusion of the vanishing table. Then the Boo floated out of the nearest window. Moving over to the table, Luigi made it visible again and sucked up the Spirit Balls. Just as he was about to slip out of the room, the Boo came back in. It seemed upset by the fact that the table was visible again, but that all disappeared when it noticed him. The Boo puffed up slightly, sort of like a pissed off cat, and hissed at him, before going invisible. Luigi turned the Dark-Light Device on where he guessed the Boo was and winced slightly at its' noises of pain. Then, flinching the entire time, slammed it into the wall and sucked it into the Poltergust 5000. Running a hand through his reddish-brown hair, Luigi sighed. He didn't like hurting spirits, but what he didn't understand was why King Boo, and it was obviously that bastard who was behind this mess, was going to all of this trouble. It was kind of like he actually wanted the attention.

The Duel Scream went off, jolting Luigi from his thoughts and scaring him badly enough to make him jump. E. Gadd's face appeared on the screen. “You OK, Luigi? Damn. What the Hell was a Boo doing here in the Valley? Good thing you had the Dark-Light Device with you, or you'd have been in real trouble. Let's get you out of there. Hold on tight!” Luigi rolled his eyes as he was sucked through the Pixelator, and landed directly on his feet. He turned to face E. Gadd who was bouncing in his chair.

“Excellent! I'm positively tickled that my Dark-Light Device worked!”

“So you're saying you're happy I ran into a Boo?”

E. Gadd froze mid-celebration. “O-of course not.” He seemed nervous.

Luigi huffed. “Right. Sure. Of course you are.”

“R-right. Anyway, it's really concerning to find a Boo in the Gloomy Manor. Boos always spell trouble––especially if they gang up! If you see any more, be sure to capture them right away.”

Luigi gave him a slow look. “You think I don't know that?”

E. Gadd rolled his eyes, “I have a special container for them down in the Vault. Hmm...” He paused. “That's odd. The Parascope is acting up. Something isn't right, Luigi. The signals coming from the Gloomy Manor are..... Give me a minute. I need to figure this out.”

Luigi snorted under his breath and headed for the bathroom. He needed a bath really badly. And ice. Ice would be good too.


	6. A-5: A Sticky Situation

When Luigi had received his coffee the next morning, he hadn't been pleased by the look on E. Gadd's face. “It's––”

“No.” Luigi sank into a seat, carefully avoiding putting too much weight on his back. It was practically black and blue by this point.

“Come on.” E. Gadd made a pleading noise, but the brunet ignored him.

“No.”

“It's just a quick run. Won't take more than twenty minutes and you shouldn't get injured. Promise.”

Luigi's eyes narrowed. “Are you absolutely positive about that?”

“Yes.” E. Gadd smiled.

“Fine, Gadd. I'll do it.”

The scientist sighed under his breath. “You are allowed to call my by my first name.”

The brunet stared at him. “And what would that be?”

“Elvin. Elvin Gadd.”

Luigi snorted. “Odd. And odd name for an odd person.” Elvin felt his heart sink. Another snort. “It suits you well, I think.” Luigi glanced his way and ruffled the scientist's hair. “Don't ever change, Gadd. You're perfect the way you are. Now, what's that job you wanted me to do?” Elvin felt his heart soar. Luigi, for some odd reason, meant a lot to him. The brunet had long since passed the point of 'Friends', but Elvin didn't know what they were now. Then it hit him, he now considered Luigi family.

“Oh, right. Come with me.” Elvin headed back towards the computer room and pulled up the layout of Gloomy Manor. “Something unexpected––and gross––has happened in Gloomy Manor. It's been infested with spiders, and they're redecorating the place with sticky webs. It started suddenly, and definitely not by natural means.” He scowled darkly. “I hate spiders. I don't care what you do, just get rid of them.”

Luigi's eyebrows went up.

E. Gadd blanched sharply. “Err. I mean, 'At this rate, just walking around the place will soon be impossible. Get back to the manor posthaste, and suck up every web with the Poltergust 5000.' Yeah. That's what I meant to say.”

Luigi sighed. “Yeah,” he muttered. “You just keep on thinking that.” The brunet was ignored.

“Meanwhile, I'll try and figure out how this could have happened.” He pressed the ever present button by his side and the Pixelator activated, transferring Luigi from the Bunker to Gloomy Manor. Once again he was dropped inside of the Entrance room and the brunet pulled out his Duel Scream. A mixture of amazement, shock and horror warred within him when he realized that he was going to have to clean 43 spiderwebs out of 10 rooms. He sighed in absolute irritation. Well then, the Mudroom came first. Turning towards the door, he rolled his eyes and opened it up.

Sucking up four different spiderwebs around the room wasn't that bad. It was the spiders that kept dropping for the ceiling that were the worst part. He snorted. At least the room looked better now than it originally had. Glancing down at the map, Luigi swallowed hard. Next came the Guard Hall, but before that, the brunet was going to check out the Garage. Just to make sure. A thorough search yielded nothing but five coins. “Well,” he muttered, “that was a waste of time. Might as well clean out the Guard Hall now. No more avoiding it. Damn.”

Walking swiftly down the hall, Luigi discovered, to his delight, that if a suit of armor had a spiderweb on it, it couldn't move. It went pretty well, except for the fact that he fucked up and had his back slashed open by one of the suits. The brunet let out a whimper of pain but finished cleaning up the webs and opened the door to the Foyer. Glancing down, he grimaced at the sight of blood dripping across the floor. Finding the nearest mirror, he pulled a roll of bandages out of his bag, removed his shirt, and carefully wrapped the wound up tight. _Easy my ass._ Luigi was so going to murder E. Gadd when he got back to the Bunker.

The Foyer was clean of both spiderwebs and spectral activity, so Luigi headed over to the coatroom, careful not to jostle his wound. There were only two webs here, one hanging from the ceiling to the top of the closet in the first area, and one hanging from the ceiling light in the second area. Luigi sighed under his breath. _Please tell me these aren't this spread out..... And please tell me I won't run into anything but spiders and cobwebs. I don't think I can take on anything bigger like this._ He pressed a hand to his chest and felt the bandages stretch across his wounded back. Luigi flinched slightly. That had been painful. “There had better be chocolate waiting for me when I get back....”

Walking back through the Foyer, Luigi stepped into the Common Hall and swore loudly. There was a fucking huge spiderweb blocking the entire path forward. Then he noticed the small ball of webs nearby, and an accessible candle. A small smirk crossed his lips. Looks like he will get to acknowledge his pyromaniac side after all. Sucking the web ball up, Luigi used the Poltergust 5000 to lift it close enough to the candlestick to light it up. The webbing caught fire easily and the brunet gleefully started walking down the hall, happily setting fire to any spiders that came near him. Luigi cackled manically as he watched the fucking creepers burst into flame, before clearing out the last of the webs in the Common Hall.

The Library was next. There were only three webs on the bottom area, but Luigi could see parts of the upper area and knew that he would have to eventually get around to clearing that out as well. Stepping into the Kitchen, Luigi was instantly on guard. It was dark. He was about halfway across the floor when the purple gates came down and a Slammer was revealed cooking a chicken over the wood fire. The brunet raised an eyebrow, but crept nearer. Then another appeared. And another. And another. There were four in total, and all of them were eying Luigi like he was a piece of meat. The brunet swallowed heavily, ignored the screaming pain from the wound on his back, and shifted his weight until all four were in view. This time he was lucky, and managed to land all four with a single flash of the Strobe-light. Sucking all of them into the Poltergust at the same time yielded a total of 320 gold. Luigi's lips twitched upwards. He was definitely going to be able to pay for his chocolate addiction for a little while. Glancing at the dumbwaiter, he pulled the cord, stepped into it, and allowed the thing to take him to the Dining Room.

It, too, was dark, and instantly four Hiders came out of nowhere. It took the brunet nearly five minutes, but he did manage to catch them all. Luigi's back was killing him, he had taken a log to the side and was positive he had a cracked rib, but he made it. Stepping into the second floor of the Library, he removed what he could before turning the Dark-Light Device on the black and white fire painting. Activating it, he pushed the ball of webs into the flames before igniting what he couldn't suck into the vacuum itself. Needless to say, by the time he was done clearing out the cobwebs, Luigi was quickly becoming exhausted, but the room itself looked good.

Stepping into the Lobby, Luigi forced the door on the left side to appear, sucked up the Spirit Balls and then opened it. This door led to the Balcony and the brunet swallowed hard. Flashing the bats on the roof, he collected the money and then flashed the grill, lighting it up. The fire destroyed the web that was on top of it, and Luigi dragged the larger web towards it. Once the web was lit, he launched it at the path blocking, huge spiderweb that separated him from the Dining Room. Stepping through the remains of the large web, he removed a few more bats before picking up the smaller web ball. Lighting it up, Luigi walked down towards the end of the balcony and set that large web on fire. Turning his gaze back to the map, he sighed when he saw that he was only at twenty eight out of forty three webs. Not to mention the fact that the next area was the Master Hall. The one that just so happened to be on the other side of the fucking huge house. Needless to say, Luigi was not in a good mood at this point.

Walking back through the Lobby, Luigi entered the second floor of the Foyer and strode over to the door that led to the correct area. Opening it, he stepped though, glanced around, and promptly made a pissed off hissing noise. The Master Hall was just as cobweb stuffed as the Common Hall and Luigi was not pleased. Nailing a golden spider that was hanging from the ceiling, the brunet sucked the nearest vase clean of spiderwebs, before walking down towards the Parlor. There were two webs clinging to the bench at the end of the hall, and Luigi cleaned them off. Then, dragging the long sticky web, he set fire to it and watched as it burned, releasing a small web ball. Collecting it with the Poltergust, he set it on fire and walked down towards the end of the hall. Any spiders that came near him met a terrible fate, and when he reached the huge web at the end, burned it as well. Ignoring the cord that was hanging from the ceiling, Luigi turned around and walked towards the Bedroom.

Stepping into the room, he glanced around before sucking up the web that was clinging immediately to his left. Glancing at the web hanging from the fan, Luigi determined that it was in perfect range of both the wooden stove and the huge web near by. Walking over to the fire, he stoked it high enough to be a danger and then spun the fan blades around. The web swung through the air, caught on fire, and burned the huge web up entirely. Luigi smirked. He was just that good. Then he glanced at his map. Yay. The Rafters. This was not going to be fun, was it? Especially since he was missing eight spiderwebs.

Walking back down the Master Hall, Luigi pulled on the cord and the ladder that led to the Rafters extended. Silently the brunet climbed up, expecting everything. Sucking up the four spiderwebs near him, Luigi opened the safe to his left and then turned to face the single beam that crossed from one side of the roof to the other. He was going to have to walk it like a tightrope, wasn't he? Luigi let out a whimper and began to walk across. It was hard, especially with his wounded back, but he did make it across eventually. Then he used the Dark-Light Device on a nearby painting of a fire and dragged the nearest web ball to it. That destroyed the fortieth web and Luigi walked along the next path. It led to three webs that he, again used the Dark-Light Device to light a painting fire, before setting fire to them. All forty three taken care of, Luigi collapsed on the ground. That had been exhausting.

Then the Duel Scream went off. He barely managed to pull it out of his pocket and open it. E. Gadd's worried face appeared in the screen. “Are you alright?”

“No. Not really. My back is bleeding and I think I cracked a rib.”

E. Gadd let out a worried noise, lips pulling down into a sharp frown. “Well, good work. The spiders should leave now that you've destroyed their webs. Anyway, a more pressing issue has come up. I may have discovered where the spiders came from.”

Luigi's eyes snapped to the screen. “Do tell.”

“I'll bring you back to fill you in. I'll also have everything you need to recover ready. Okay?” He tapped a few keys and Luigi felt himself being pixelated. When he opened his eyes again, he was in a bed. E. Gadd was standing by his side. “I've already emptied your Poltergust for you and you can take as much time off as you need. And while you were cleaning out the webs, I made an important discovery: there's an incredibly strong paranormal signal coming from deep within the manor. Now, I'm not sure what it is or how it managed to evade the Parascope's radar for so long, but.... I reckon it's somehow connected to the spider infestation! Unfortunately, pinpointing the signal hadn't been the easiest of tasks.” Elvin sighed under his breath and leaned back in the chair he had flopped down in sometime in the explanation.

His eyes narrowed suddenly and Elvin stood up, thundering, “But, you are **not** going to challenge it until you are completely healed. Is that understood?” Luigi nodded silently. “Now, go to sleep. You need the rest.” The brunet complied, slipping off into dreamland fairly quickly.


	7. Confront the Source

            Luigi spent the next couple days in bed, recovering from the nasty wound on his back. He had gotten the fourth degree from Elvin for straining himself. Apparently he should have immediately contacted E. Gadd the moment he had gotten hurt, but since he didn't, the wound was most likely going to scar. And it would be a vicious scar. It started at his left hip, ripped its way up his back, all the way to his right shoulder. Luigi rolled his eyes, then let out a low whimper. Of course, the one time that he's confined to bed rest, he immediately becomes horny. The brunet let out a low growl from where he was currently laying face down, and ground his hips into the bed. That was his first mistake. Luigi's second mistake was to let himself fall asleep.

            He awoke, according to his clock, several hours later, beyond aroused. Luigi let out a little whimper, unconsciously grinding his hips into the mattress as his body was wracked with arousal. He pressed his face deeper into the pillow and slid his left hand down the front of his body. Seeing as he was unable to lay on his back, the brunet did the best he could, jerking himself off quickly and quietly. Luigi still screamed his release into the pillow though, and relaxed, exhausted, against the bed. It was two hours later that Elvin stepped into his room. The scientist helped him sit up before removing the bandages that covered his back. He sighed under his breath and poked one of the stitches. It held tightly.

            “If you promise not to hurt yourself, I will Pixelate you into Gloomy Manor so you can deal with the source of the spiders. Then, you will come right back and you will spend at least a month having absolutely nothing to do with ghost hunting, is that understood?”

            Luigi nodded, glad to finally be doing something. “Alright.”

            Elvin sighed. “Good.” He wrapped the stitched wound with fresh bandages before helping Luigi out of the bed. “You think you can walk?”

            The brunet took a few steps forward, stumbling slightly. “Yeah, I think so. I'm just stiff. Just give me a few minutes to get used to moving again.” He stretched his back slightly, popping out what kinks he could reach.

            Elvin made a face. “That's kind of gross.”

            Luigi snorted. “You think me popping a bit of my back is bad? I've got a lot more bones that I can pop. Remind me to show you when I'm all healed.”

            “No thanks. I think I'm good.” The scientist looked a little green in the face.

            The brunet laughed happily and then reached over to grab the cup of coffee off the side table. He took a sip and sighed in delight. “This is good.”

            “Thank you.” Elvin smirked. “Now, as I was saying....” he turned around and walked out of the room towards the main one. Luigi followed behind him and watched as the elder male flopped down in his chair by the computer. He pulled up a video of the Lobby, the now accessible elevator on the right side. The scientist gestured to the screen. “I'm pretty sure this is where the spiders are coming from. The Cellar is rather deep underground, and darker than usual because of this. It's the perfect breeding grounds for those damn bastards.” Luigi snickered under his breath.

            “You really don't like spiders, do you.”

            E. Gadd gave him a rather sour look. “I triangulated the powerful paranormal signal and, as I thought, it's coming from the Cellar. Once we find out who––or what––is behind this mess, we'll put a stop to it. So button up those overalls real tight, and get ready for some action, my boy!” He bounced happily in his chair.

            Luigi stared at him. “I haven't worn overalls in three years. Not since the last incident with haunted mansions.” And it was true. The brunet now preferred leather trousers tucked into snake skin boots, paired with soft cotton button up shirts. He then sighed. “Why do I even bother?”

            “Now, to get to the Cellar, you'll need to take the elevator. It's pretty straightforward, but I'll mark the Cellar on your map.” He tapped a few keys and turned to face Luigi before handing him a stylized key. “This key should open the elevator. Though I imagine the elevator's operating permit may be expired....” He trailed off and snickered.

            Luigi gave him a rather dark glare. “For the last time, will you stop trying to scare me?”

            “Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine. Heh....”

            “Oh great. Now you've jinxed it. Thanks a lot. If I die, I'm haunting your ass for the rest of your life.”

            “Ready or not!” He pulled the lever on the side of his chair and Luigi was immediately Pixelated.

            He reappeared in the Lobby and stared at the elevator door before sighing. Silently glancing about the room, Luigi swiped all of the money before walking over to the stupid door. Sliding the key into the lock, he twisted it to the right and watched as it dissolved. At least it explained why he couldn't ever reuse a key. Shoving the door to the side, he stepped into the elevator and pressed the down button. A minute or so into the ride, the funny nervous feeling erupted in his stomach. The brunet instantly knew that something was going to go wrong. Luigi found he was correct when the machine suddenly dropped like a rock. It slammed into the floor of the Cellar and he was barely able to keep himself from landing flat on his face.

            Walking over to the stairs, Luigi noted another of the Dark-Light Device paintings. Activating it released a whole slew of coins onto the stairs. Coins that instantly slid to the bottom. Luigi swallowed. So this path was only one way, huh? He made it down the first couple steps before he lost his balance and skidded all the way to the bottom, though the brunet still remained on his feet. Making his way over, he picked all of the coins up, sucked up all the nearby cobwebs and glanced down the hall. There was a huge web at the back, with one of the balls of webs that he could stretch and set on fire. There was also an armored knight wielding a lit torch that Luigi just **knew** could move. Suddenly he got an idea. Swiftly walking down towards the web ball, he grabbed it with the Poltergust and began to stretch the web it was attached to towards the torch wielding knight. When he was a few feet out, a large shadow began to form on the ground below him.

            Luigi cursed loudly, immediately stopped pulling on the web, and dodged to his left. It put hell on his injured back, but at least the brunet wasn't squished underneath a giant spider queen. The damn thing was at least five times his size, and E. Gadd expected him to fight against **that?!?** The scientist was crazy. Backing up slightly, Luigi was delighted to find that the spider also spat globs of poison at him that traveled quite a distance in the air, and moved in a somewhat straight line on the ground. As if that wasn't bad enough, it also called down spiders from the ceiling that managed to perfectly get in his way. Oh joy.

            Quickly running towards the spider queen, he charged up the Strobe-light. The moment it opened its eyes, he released the flash, momentarily blinding the beast and forcing it to turn away. The Poltergust was used quickly, to yank the ball of webs forward, and he dragged it within range of the torch wielding knight. The armor set it on fire and the spider panicked as the webbing beneath it exploded. The spider collapsed to the ground and a Possessor Ghost leapt out. The white spectral being glanced around, slightly confused, before it focused on him. Then it snarled. A force field formed around it, before it slammed into the wall where Luigi had been standing only a few seconds before. The brunet nailed it with a full powered charge of his flashlight, before attempting to suck it into the Poltergust 5000. What seemed like a skin peeled off and was sucked into the vacuum while the real ghost escaped to repossess the spider again. Luigi's eyes narrowed, and he ducked out of the way as the spider charged down the hall towards him.

            It ran up the wall near him and then across a ceiling, dislodging a chandelier which swung down, as it went. There was a ball of webs hanging from the chandelier and Luigi moved forward to spin it around. It caught on the armor's fire before slamming into the large web nearby. As the sticky threads burned away, a new set of armor stepped onto the field. One that had a spear. The brunet wondered if he could drag the web ball far enough back to get it be speared, and then he could set it on fire. Luigi thumped his fist into his hand. Alright, now to execute the plan.

            His choice of words was poor. The plan wasn't the one executed. He, on the other hand, very nearly was. Charging up the Strobe-light, Luigi flashed it in the spider's face. He then began dragging the ball of webs back towards the spear. Only, he hadn't charged up the Strobe-light enough for it to really have an effect and the spider recovered much quicker than he had expected. It raised up huge legs and the brunet wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. One leg slammed into the ground near him, sending rocks to scrape his skin, but the other went right down over his right eye. It tore the skin open, went almost directly though his right eye, ripping down from his forehead to just over his lip. Luigi stumbled back in pain and did something he hadn't done in years.

            He formed a green fireball in his hand. Without even noticing, he hurled it at the spider's web and watched in glee as it exploded and the Possessor Ghost reemerged from the body of the downed queen. Another layer of skin was removed and as it escaped back into the body, Luigi was quite happy to hurl more fireballs at it. One more round and the damn ghost was sucked into the vacuum. A single piece of the Dark Moon clattered to the floor and the brunet picked it up. The Duel Scream went off. He yanked it open. “I don't give a fuck what you have to say. Pixelate me back right now.” E. Gadd nodded and the brunet soon felt the familiar feeling of being pulled through cyberspace.

            He landed on his feet in E. Gadd's lab. Luigi shoved the Dark Moon piece into the scientist's hands, dumped the Poltergust 5000 on the ground and stalked down the hallway towards the bathroom. After cleaning, numbing, stitching, and bandaging the right side of his face, he felt moderately better and returned to the main room with Elvin. The man was still sitting in his chair, but in front of him was the second piece of the Dark Moon, newly cleaned of the corrupting energy. “Rough fight?”

            “You wouldn't believe it.”

            E. Gadd sighed. “How's your eye?”

            “I can still see, but it will scar.”

            “Anyway, welcome back. Let's take a look at that body-snatcher ghost.” He hit a few buttons and Luigi watched as the Poltergust was emptied out. “Fantastic.” He gestured to the second piece of the Dark Moon. “Now that we've recovered another Dark Moon piece, we just need to find the rest of them. And since the ghosts are far too crafty for their own good, they've most likely spread the pieces across the entire valley.” He pulled down a nearby map. “You see? I cleaned it while you were gone. We now have access to the Haunted Towers.”

            Luigi's eyebrow went up. “The Haunted Towers? So, how will we get there?”

            “I thought it might come to this, so I made a couple of tweaks to the Pixelator. It should now be able to move you to the next location. Anyway, you've promised to take at least a month off, and you're probably exhausted from that fight. Good night, Luigi.” He turned his chair around and began typing again.

            Luigi walked down the hallway towards his room and stepped into it, locking his door behind him as he went. He sank down onto his bed before concentrating and forming a green fireball in his palm. It wasn't as strong as it had been back in the Cellar, nor was it as bright, but Luigi still stared at it. He hadn't been able to do this without a Fireflower for years. Not since he and Mario had been children..... But, he had the skill back now. All he had to do was hone it. This was going to be an interesting month. At least he wouldn't be bored now.


	8. B-1: A Job for a Plumber

           It had taken Luigi almost three months to heal from both the slash wound on his back and the one on his face. True to his words, both had scarred, though not as badly as he had originally thought. When Elvin came into the kitchen a few mornings after he had removed the bandages and pronounced the brunet in better condition, he had been surprised to see that Luigi was already waiting for him at the table, their coffee mugs in hand. He was instantly suspicious. “Neeh, Elvin. I'm bored. Can I go out and hunt now?” The brunet set the mug onto the table and began to toss a ball of green fire up and down. The scientist watched in delight. It had taken a considerable amount of time, but Luigi had figured out how to bring the power of his fire up past what he could use with the Fireflower, and on top of that, creating them now took almost no energy or time. E. Gadd couldn't be more proud of his friend. Over the two month resting period, he'd also wormed the reason why Luigi was pissed off at Mario out of the brunet. To say that he was severely disappointed in the man was an understatement. If he ever got his hands on that bastard......... It was a shame that he'd have to give the first blow to Luigi, but the scientist knew that he was going to follow up with a direct kick to Mario's crotch. It was the least the asshole deserved.

            “Our quest is taking us to a new location, Lys! Aren't you excited?”

            “Hell, yeah. From what you've shown me, this place looks amazing!”

            Elvin cackled loudly. “That's the spirit! There's only one way to fix this mess––restore the Dark Moon and place it back up into the sky. My Parascope has located the next piece somewhere in these Haunted Towers. They're been abandoned for some time now, so they're teeming with exotic plants and, naturally, ghosts!”

            Luigi let out a noise of excitement. “Awesome. Hey, I bet the piece is gonna be at the top.”

            The scientist smirked. “In the Hollow Tree, I say.”

            “Bet on.” They shook hands.

            “It's a pity though. The towers are in bad shape, and the water system seems to be broken. You see, the Haunted Towers feature a complex water system that powers all the machinery. So the first thing on your to-do list will be to check the Hydro Generator.” Elvin spun around and began typing on his keyboard. Luigi pulled out the Duel Scream and watched as the correct room was marked. “Oh, and keep and eye out for new types of ghosts. That goes without saying.”

            “I do hope I run into something.....” Luigi's lips peeled back to reveal a feral smile. Elvin made a noise in the back of his throat.

            “Careful, you're starting to scare me. And considering the business I run in, that's not a good thing. Good luck, Lys. Try not to mentally scar anything while you're there.”

            “Ahh, words are words, and promises are promises. I can't guarantee anything.” He smirked.

            The scientist rolled his eyes, but pulled the lever by his chair and Luigi was Pixelated into the Haunted Towers. “Why do I get the idea that I'm really going to regret this?” Elvin rubbed his face, but hopped off the chair and went into the kitchen to grab the nearest bottle of brandy. He eyed the label and sighed. “It's a little young for my tastes, but I have the feeling I'm going to need this.” He uncorked it and poured himself a glass before bringing both items into the computer room. Carefully, Elvin set them onto a nearby side table before he sank back into the chair. He turned his eyes to the screen that had Luigi on it and quietly began to watch.

          

* * *

 

            Somewhere during the trip through the Pixelator, Luigi had gotten flipped over and he rematerialized upside down. Seeing the ground nearing at an alarming pace, he reached out and pressed his palm against the grass. Then he rolled forward, landing neatly on his feet. Turning around, the brunet stared at the huge, obviously locked, gates, then grinned. This was area was going to be so cool. Walking forward, he paused and stared at the closed flowers. Didn't flowers need sunlight to bloom? On a whim, he charged the Strobe-light up and flashed the purple blooms. They made a weird giggling noise and coughed out a small cloud of bills. The brunet's lips twitched up. It seemed that money was plentiful here as well. Amused, he strode over to the other side of the gate and opened up the flowers there. One coughed up money, but the other gave him a key. Then he removed the dirt around the base of the old tree, accidentally kicking it as he went. The brunet was surprised to receive three gold bars for his efforts.

            Then, out of the corner of his eye, Luigi noted a barred window. Something red was moving around inside the room there. Curious, he carefully snuck up to the window and peered in. His eyes widened. It was the Hydro Generator. And there was a Slammer in the room. It curiously poked the wheel before grabbing the thing and spinning it as hard as it could. There was a crackle of electricity, but since there was nothing to continue powering the wheel, it stopped moving. Luigi could feel the ghost's frustration. “That means,” he muttered under his breath, “the wheel is working, but there's no water source. Damn.” Moving back away from the window, he turned towards the gate and strode forward. Slipping the key into position, he unlocked the gate and watched, rather amused, as the key dissolved before stepping through the open gate.

            The Courtyard was empty, just two doors on the left and right, and the pinwheel gate in front of him. Luigi cleared the area out of money and turned to the only unlocked door. Towards the Hydro Generator, it was. Stepping into the room, he came face to face with the Slammer. The brunet froze, then watched in relief as the spirit panicked and fled through the ceiling. Walking across the two bridges, he sucked up the piles of sludge underneath them and checked the entire room for money. There wasn't actually that much, but seeing as he really was the only one who could use it, Luigi didn't think that anyone would really mind. Flipping open the treasure chest at the end of the room, he secured the key inside and turned around to survey the room itself. There wasn't anywhere else left to go except for the locked door on the other side of the Courtyard. Sighing under his breath, he stepped out of the Hydro Generator room and began to walk across the area of grass towards the other side.

          He was only a few steps away from the Hydro Generator's door when the Duel Scream went off. “Ahh, Lys.” Elvin sighed under his breath. “It's just as I feared. The Hydro Generator seems to be in good condition, so the water pump must be clogged. The Water Supply is on the roof, try checking there.” The scientist nodded at Luigi and then the screen went dark. The brunet slipped the communication device back into his pants and headed towards the other side of the Courtyard. When he reached the door, he studied it for a few moments before walking up the set of steps.

            Unlocking the door, he glanced in the room and blinked slowly. It was a small area, called the Tower Lobby on his map, that clearly needed the water activated to get across to the other side. It was then that Luigi spotted the mat on the floor in front of a blank wall near him. Sweeping the Dark-Light Device over the area, he forced the Spirit Balls out of the door and then sucked them up with the Poltergust 5000. The moment the door was available, he stepped through it into the darkened Greenhouse.

            The air was tense, and Luigi stiffened quickly. There were definitely ghosts here. Taking a few steps forward, the brunet jumped backwards when a nearby shelf was sent smashing down. His eyes narrowed. So the ghosts were trying to fuck with him, huh? Carefully he made his way through the path that the ghosts set up, his eyes watching everything. As soon as he reached the end, a Greenie swept out of the wall. It picked up a nearby shovel and hid its face with the reflective metal. Luigi cursed in his mind as he raced back along the path. Dodging the Greenie's shovel attack, he noted that it left itself open and used the opportunity presented to stun it and then suck the ghost into the vacuum. He released a sigh of relief, then swore loudly when two more Greenies with shovels appeared. It was a lot harder to dodge their attacks, as they were highly coordinated, but he managed and eventually stunned both of them. As soon as they were taken out, the Greenhouse brightened considerably and Luigi wandered through to the other end, looking at what was being grown as he went. All of the flowers in here were really pretty, and Luigi knew that he was going to enjoy exploring this area.

            Stepping out of the door at the other side, he stared at the staircase that was curving up around the left side before beginning to walk up it. When Luigi reached the door at the top of the steps, he opened it, glanced through into the next room and promptly froze. For inside the Plant Nursery were the largest Venus Flytraps he had ever seen, ones that could easily swallow him whole. Moving swiftly he darted towards the other side of the room quickly noting that their range of movement was huge. Looking around, he spotted a spiky ball that could be easily used as a projectile weapon. Picking it off of the plant, he aimed and threw it towards the first Venus Flytrap. It snapped it out of the air, chewing loudly, and soon gave a hellish scream of pain and died, the plant crumbling away to nothing. Luigi felt really bad at that moment, but hurled a second spiky ball towards the other plant. It, too, ate it and was soon writing in pain on the ground. The brunet carefully stepped around the crumbling remains of the plants and opened the chest that they had been guarding. It was a key. Moving silently over to the door near the spiky plant, he slipped it into the lock and twisted it.

            It led to a small balcony on the second floor of the Tower Lobby. Carefully avoiding the suspiciously placed rug, he walked to the other door and opened it. According to his map, this area was called the Skybridge. Glancing over the railing, Luigi paused when he noted the furiously spinning purple whirlwind. A closer look revealed it to be a cyclone of crows. Then he noticed that they were speeding through the gaps in the bridge. He sighed. Apparently it was another version of the lovely Guard Hall. Except, instead of suits of armor, it was crows. Making sure that his timing was exact, Luigi darted across the bridge, the crows barely missing him. He was moving fast enough to be unable to stop himself in time, and slammed directly into the door at the other end. The brunet groaned and rubbed his nose. That had hurt a lot more than one would think. He took a step back and unlocked the door.

            Opening it, he peeked through and nearly cooed at the sight of a Slammer chasing a gold mouse around in circles. Moving carefully, he charged up the Strobe-light and nailed both directly. Then he sucked the ghost into the vacuum and picked up the gold bars as he went. What Luigi was not expecting was to be hit in the back by a shovel ghost. He let out a low snarl, grabbed the handle of the infernal thing and promptly set it on fire. The ghost that was holding it yelped loudly and dropped the weapon. All the spectral beings in the room watched as the shovel burned into ashes. Then all eyes slowly turned to the human, who huffed. “I do not appreciate being attacked from behind. You can pass that information on. Of course,” he smiled, showing way to many teeth. “That's assuming you can even make it out of this room free. The Greenie closest to the wall bolted but froze when a fireball impacted against the stones in front of it. All the other ghosts let out a whimper. The brunet paused, sighed, and then rubbed at his face. “Honestly, I don't know why you're trying to attack me. All I want to do is reactivate the water system.”

            The ghosts glanced at each other and then faded away. Luigi blinked slowly. “What just happened?”

            A Greenie reappeared. It chattered cheerfully and pointed up. “Water Supply is up that way? Mm... alright.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a bar of chocolate. Breaking off a piece, he stuck it in his mouth while he thought. There was a tug on his sleeve. The Greenie was staring at the bar curiously. “It's chocolate. A sweet. Want some?” It nodded hesitantly and Luigi broke off a small piece for the green ghost. It stuck it in its mouth and let out a happy sigh of delight. The brunet snorted. “I react the same way.” Turning around, he stared at the balloon plants that were growing nearby. Sticking another chunk of chocolate in his mouth, Luigi sucked a plant into his vacuum and promptly used it as a way to float upwards towards the other door on a higher level. He landed near the door in the Lounge and turned to stare at how little floor there actually was. He sighed under his breath and was about to step through the door when the same Greenie from before tugged on his sleeve again. He stared at it before snorting loudly. “You want more chocolate?” It nodded. With a roll of his eyes, Luigi handed it a whole bar, if only to get the ghost out of his hair. Then he turned around and stepped through the door.

           The Water Supply started with a staircase on the side of the building that led up to the actual area on the roof. Walking up the steps, Luigi noted a bucket filled with a sort of brown sludge. Curiously he moved forward to inspect it, but jerked back with a Greenie decided to use it as a helmet. Sludge splashed out of the bucket, splattering across his chest and face, and Luigi spluttered as he wiped it away. He was just about to stun the stupid thing when the Greenie with the chocolate shot out of the floor. It floated over to the other ghost and removed the makeshift helmet before handing it a small chunk of the sweet. Then both ghosts disappeared. Luigi blinked slowly, but continued to wipe his face clean. Then he glanced at the two pressure pads in front of the Water Supply. Picking up the now empty bucket, he walked over towards the dripping muck and filled the bucket. Then he placed it onto the pressure plate closest to the supply. Stepping onto the other one, he charged up the Strobe-light as he waited for the green light panels to be revealed. Then he released the charge.

            The green panels lit up and water immediately began to flood through the system. Luigi felt the lurch and the familiar crackle of electricity as the Hydro Generator began to move, supplying the Haunted Towers with water and electricity once again. There was a round of applause from the Greenies and Luigi spun around to bow for the ghosts. Then the Duel Scream went off. There was instant silence as the brunet pulled out the communication device and opened it. “Fantastic job, Lys! The Water flow is slowly normalizing. Hold on, I'll pixelate you out of there in just a minute.” He closed the device and turned to face the other ghosts.

            “Thanks for helping me.” He was about to continue his sentence when a horrible banging noise came from the pipe. The other ghosts immediately fled and Luigi was instantly on guard. He cautiously approached the pipe and stopped when he was about twenty feet away from it. There, at the edge of the faucet, was the beginnings of an ugly yellow blob. The brunet groaned. He already knew what this was going to be. The Globber landed hard on the ground, spitting out puddles of goo as it went. Luigi's eyes narrowed. So this was the fucker who had been contaminating the water supply. He moved quickly, dodging its disgusting projectiles whilst charging up his Strobe-light. A quick flash revealed how much strength it had and Luigi wanted to whimper. Fifty was bad enough, but a full hundred? That was awful. Shifting the vacuum head to one hand, he formed a fireball in the other and nailed the Globber with it.

            It squealed something awful, but it was enough for Luigi to suck it into the vacuum. He let a low sigh, collapsed on the ground and closed his eyes. He was awoken fifteen or so minutes later by something poking him. The brunet slid his eyes open and tried to focus his gaze. After a few seconds he recognized the Greenie that he had given the chocolate to. “Nyeh~” he muttered, sitting up and stretching as he went. “What'da want.” It poked him again and he finally registered that the Duel Scream was going off. It probably had been for a while, too. He pulled it out and opened it, yawning as he went. “Yeah?”

            “Lys! Are you alright? Why didn't you answer?”

            “I fell asleep.” He rolled his eyes.

            “There's a Greenie behind you....” E. Gadd trailed off when he noticed the look he was being given. It wasn't a nice one.

            The brunet snorted. “I seem to have made friends with some of the locals. They're rather cute.”

            “Whatever. Anyway, good job dealing with that rather rotund ghost. I'll be bringing you back now.” He pressed a few buttons, but Luigi missed the rest seeing as he fell back asleep.

      

* * *

 

            “FUCK YOU, E. GADD.” Luigi roared the words when he was rudely dropped onto the ground shorty after being Pixelated back to the Bunker. He stood up and growled, but the scientist held his hands up.

            “I've already emptied your Poltergust. I've never seen that kind of ghost before. And good job restoring the water flow. You'll be happy to know that the Haunted Tower's water system is now almost completely functional. Though, your new friendship with some of the ghosts is a little odd. They keep waving at my cameras.”

            Luigi snorted and ignored E. Gadd's ranting as he walked down the hallway towards the bathroom. He needed a shower, if only to get rid of the sludge that was on him. Damn Globber.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note:
> 
> Lys is pronounced Leese. Make it sound French


	9. B-2: The Pinwheel Gate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's face it, I'm a horrible person. You'll find out why later on. *cackles gleefully* Excuse me while I update the tags.

            When he opened his eyes the next morning, Luigi was hit with a sense of dread. Something didn't quite feel right about today. He sighed under his breath, sure in the thought that he would be going on a rather long goose chase. Rolling his eyes, the brunette shook the feeling away and stumbled out into the kitchenette. The coffee pot was bubbling merrily away, though E. Gadd was nowhere to be seen. Luigi guessed that he was still asleep. Pouring himself a cup, he grabbed a pairing knife from the nearby knife rack and brought it to the table. Grabbing a mango from the fruit bowl, Luigi swiftly peeled and ate the sweet insides. His lips twitched up as a familiar thud echoed throughout the room. The door slid open and E. Gadd stepped inside. He was rubbing at a interestingly red spot on his forehead.

            Luigi snorted. “Have fun?” He got a glare in response. The scientist made his way over to the coffee pot and poured himself a really big mug. Noting the rather large bags under Elvin's eyes, Luigi rolled his own and grabbed a second mango. Peeling the fruit, he sliced it and slid the sections over to the scientist, who was just sitting down. There was a completely muffled, sleepy thank you. The brunette rolled his eyes again, but waited to speak until E. Gadd looked a little more awake. “Long night?”

            “Like you wouldn't believe.” There was a pause as the scientist popped one of the mango slices into his mouth. Pulling a remote from the nearby side table, he pushed a button and watched as the ceiling screen slid down. The outside of the Haunted Towers appeared briefly before the view shifted to show the courtyard. Elvin gestured to a pinwheel in the center of the picture with a second mango slice. “Want to hear the news about the Dark Moon piece?”

            “Um, yeah. Of course I do.” Luigi peeled a third mango and began to eat it.

            Elvin rolled his eyes, but stuck another slice of the fruit in his mouth. “The Parascope was having a hell of a time trying to pinpoint its location.... And I spent hours fiddling with the damn thing. The I realized that I can analyze the pieces of the Dark Moon that we already have to improve the precision.” He crossed his arms, a smug smirk splitting his face in two. “Naturally, I was right, and after a little more tinkering the Parascope produced better results.”

            “Tinkering? Is that was you're calling the explosions I heard last night?”

            The scientist spluttered madly. “E–e–xplosions?!?! It's genius, I tell you. GENIUS!”

            “Riiiiiiiiight. Uh huh.” Luigi leaned back in his chair and enjoyed the random rush of emotions that were crossing the scientist's face. This wasn't something that he got to see everyday, so he was planning on milking it for all it was worth. Unfortunately, he didn't really get to do anything else, because E. Gadd reacted differently than the brunet was originally expecting.

            A dark flush crossed Elvin's face. “Remember that gigantic tree? The Dark Moon seems to be somewhere up there. The only hard part is getting there.” He spun around in his chair and began typing wildly on a nearby keyboard. “You'll need to cross the newly raised water bridge and explore the interior of the Hollow Tree to find a way up. Good luck!” He chirped and slammed the Pixelation button. Luigi didn't even have time to run to grab his stuff.

            “GOD DAMMIT, ELVIN!”

            The Pixelation was over rather quickly and the brunette managed to land steadily on his feet. There was a series of thumps as his equipment landed next to him. “Thank you.” He huffed, before slipping on the Poltergust and making sure the thing was turned on. The last thing Luigi needed was a turned off Poltergust. That would be disastrous. Rolling his eyes, he glanced around the Haunted Towers Entrance and sighed under his breath. There were a bunch of giant purple flowers that clearly needed water and a nearby bucket to do so. Doing so revealed a hundred and twenty something bucks. Ignoring the annoying feeling that something was going to go wrong, he turned towards the gate to the Courtyard and opened it.

            There was no sign of movement inside the Courtyard, so Luigi stepped through the gate and let it close silently behind him. Then, after clearing the area of more cash, and easily reaching 460 bucks, he calmly began walking up to the pinwheel. It was spinning slowly in the evening breeze and the brunet rolled his eyes. Aiming the Poltergust correctly, he began to spin the wheel faster. It was almost at top speed when the head of a Hider popped out of the wheel itself. Luigi, much to his deep embarrassment, leapt back with a shriek, and fell flat on his ass. The blue spirit waved at him before turning around and yanking out five of the six vanes on the wheel. Four other spirits appeared out of thin air and, grabbing a vane, vanished into thin air in the direction of the Hydro Generator. Luigi stared in silent horror as the final vane on the wheel dragged itself to the bottom through gravity, where it hung pitifully. “FUCK!”

            Spinning around, Luigi began to storm up the ramp to the main area of the Courtyard when the Duel Scream went off. He yanked it out and scowled at it. “What the hell do you want? I'm busy.”

            Elvin sniffed dramatically. “You're so rude, Lys.” He brushed his hand across his forehead and pretended to faint.

            A wordless snarl from the brunet had him straightening up with a rather audible snap. “Hiders stole the fucking vanes to the wheel. I'm going to hunt them down and _hurt_ them.”

            There was silence for a long time. Then came the sound of furious typing. “I've marked the position of the five ghosts. Good luck. Don't come back to the Bunker until you've vented your temper. Don't kill much. Don't get yourself killed. See you later.” And with that Elvin was gone. Luigi felt his left eyebrow raise up to his hairline.

            “Did I just scare him? Huh.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I guess I did.” He pulled up the Duel Scream's map and sighed as he stared at the marked rooms. “Great.” Luigi muttered under his breath, “This is exactly what I needed today.” He glanced at the map again, noting each area that he needed to reach. _The Tool Shed, Gardener's Dwelling, and the Garden, huh? Not to mention the Seedling Laboratory and the Conservatory._ Luigi's lips thinned. _This is exactly what I needed. **Not!**_ He stepped into the East Hall and decided to hit the Tool Shed first since it was the closest.

            Stepping into the completely dark room, the brunet noted the Slammer attempting to attack the dry fountain by the door to the Garden. Stunning it with the Strobe-light caught the attention of two shovel wielding Greenies and he narrowly dodged their attacks. After sucking the large red ghost into the Poltergust, he was able to concentrate on the Greenies and make rather quick work of them. The room was still dark when he was done and Luigi sighed under his breath. Right. Now for the Hider. A fireball instantly formed in the palm of his hand and the tossed it into the air. It hovered there, casting a brighter green glow over everything. Two more balls of light joined the first, lighting the dark room fairly well. There was a faint shiver of blue out of the corner of his eye, and Luigi turned in the direction.

            Two cabinets, standing side by side, the one on the right held the blue glow. Luigi's lips twitched up, eyes gleaming dangerously. He knew exactly where the Hider was now. Sneaking up carefully, he charged up the Strobe-light with one hand and opened the drawer with the other. The blue ghost popped up and was promptly nailed with the flash. It was quickly sucked into the Poltergust machine, and a single vane was dropped on the ground as the lights came on. Luigi dismissed his fireballs, stooped over, and picked it up with a sigh. One down, four to go. So much fun.

            Turning his back on the Hider's hiding spot, he contemplated the door on his left. According to his map, it led to the Garden, but there was also a hidden entrance that led to the Toolshed Stairs. Tugging on the hair that had fallen into his face, Luigi made up his mind and reached for the handle of the Garden door. Pulling it open, he stepped into the silent Garden and narrowed his eyes. The Hider was in the middle of the path in front of him, pinwheel vane in hand. It spotted him shortly after and bolted down towards the bottom of the area. Luigi's lips thinned. There were other ghosts here besides the Hider, he could sense it. He just couldn't see them. And the brunet did **not** like that. Not one bit. Bracing himself for anything, Luigi peered around the nearest corner and noted the old fashioned mower that was sitting innocently by the side of the house. One that had a pull cord. To the brunet's right was a garden wall made of shrubs. A closer look revealed that it was a thorny wall, and that he probably shouldn't touch it.

            Sighing under his breath, Luigi wandered back over to the mower and tugged on it's pull cord. Instantly it activated and shot off, running over anything in its path, including the thorny garden wall and disappeared into the darkness, leaving only a trail of coins behind. There was the faint sound of a crash and the brunet winced. He hadn't meant to do that. Following the trail of coins, Luigi stepped through the new opening and walked down the stairs. He was at the bottom of them when a Globber appeared at the top of the stairs and spat out globs of its annoying goo. Two Greenies with buckets covering their faces appeared on each side and Luigi's lips thinned into a dark line. One of the green ghosts shifted the bucket to reveal its face and waved cheerfully before dropping it back down. It then moved over to the other Greenie, chattered excitedly and gestured at the brunet before both ghosts abandoned their buckets and moved to hover in front of Luigi. There was a long minute of silence before he figured out what the ghosts wanted.

            “Oh. Chocolate. Here.” He pulled two bars out of his bag and handed them over, one to each spirit. They each grabbed one and vanished into the ground. Luigi sighed again. He didn't really like sharing his chocolate with anyone, but if it got the ghosts to leave him alone, then the brunet was all for it. His eyes narrowed at the Globber. It wasn't going to be as easy with this one, was it. Charging up his flash, the brunet dodged a blast of goo and nailed the yellow ghost directly in the face. It squealed and he began to suck it into the Poltergust, but let out a snarl of pain when a blast of goo caught him in his side. A series of fireballs greatly enhanced how quickly it was sucked in, and Luigi smirked widely. A rattle of a nearby vase suddenly caught his attention and the brunet caught the flash of blue from the corner of his eye. The smirk widened into a shark's grin.

            “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” He followed the Hider to its new spot and charged up the Strobe-light. Swiftly shaking the pot, he released the flash the moment the ghost appeared and stunned it. From there, it was an easy capture. The second piece of the pinwheel vane clattered to the ground and he scooped it up with a wide grin. Luigi winced slightly and pressed his hand to his side. The Globber had gotten him good and, though his ribs weren't broken, they were probably cracked. He glanced back down at his map. The Gardener's Dwelling was next, mainly because it was the closest. He returned to the East Hall and stared at the place where a door should be. Forcing it to reappear with the Dark-Light Device, he sucked up the Spirit Balls and stared at the now revealed door. Opening it quietly, he stepped into the darkened Gardener's Dwelling.

            There was a table in the middle of the room, one of its four chairs lying sideways on the floor. A fan spun lazily overhead. A flash of blue alerted Luigi and he carefully crept over to the dresser by the bed on the right side of the room. The third Hider leapt out of the bottom drawer and chattered loudly. Then it disappeared through the floor. The brunet sighed loudly. Apparently there was another level below this. Great. Glancing around at the room, he acted on a whim and aimed the Poltergust at the slowly spinning fan blades. There was a grinding noise as they began to spin faster and the bed behind him slid loudly into the wall. Picking up a nearby bucket full of water, Luigi stepped onto the platform and it silently began to roll down the long shaft.

            Once it reached the bottom, he stepped off carefully and glanced around. The air was tense, and it was definitely a lot darker. His map said it was the Gardener's Lab. Behind him was a wall of Balloon Plants and the brunet groaned, getting back up to the Gardener's Dwelling was not going to be fun. In front of him was a series of spiderwebs and one of those huge Venus Flytraps in a glass tube. Luigi's eyes narrowed. _As long as that glass doesn't break, it can't get me._ The glass, however, was being attacked by a Greenie in sunglasses. It retreated when it saw him though, but the Venus Flytrap also saw him. It began slamming against the glass and, on the third try, smashed right through it, hurling a second Sunglasses Greenie through the air. Twisting himself around until he was angled correctly, Luigi sucked both pairs of glasses off and then promptly nailed them with a flash of the Strobe-light. The two ghosts joined all the others in the Poltergust 5000.

            To his right was the rattle of a box and the familiar giggle of a Hider. Moving to a large table at the end of the room, he removed the papers from its top and carefully charged up the Strobe-light. The Hider popped up and made a loud screeching noise as it was sucked into the vacuum. The third pinwheel vane landed loudly on the floor and the brunet picked it up with a sigh before turning back towards the Balloon Plants. Wincing slightly, he flopped down on the floor and pulled out a bag of blueberries. Scowling darkly at the spiders that scurried nearby, Luigi began shoving the fruit into his mouth, all the while planning the murder of King Boo. It was that asshole's fault this whole thing was happening. And yet, he couldn't stay mad at the king. If he hadn't started the whole problem, Luigi would still be at home, having absolutely nothing to do. So, in a way, he was actually glad that the Boo had started this whole mess. It gave the brunet something to do. For once. _Now, all I need to do is get laid and everything would be perfect._ Blue eyes scanned their surroundings. _But how the fuck am I supposed to get laid when I AM THE ONLY HUMAN HERE?_ He scowled deeper and shoved the now empty bag back into his pack before standing up and wandering over to the water. Luigi was pretty sure that he had seen a door down at the other end of the mini lake. Carefully wading across it, Luigi opened the door to his left and peeked in. It was bright, meaning no spirits were around, and he quietly stepped into the Sewers.

            When he returned back to the Gardener's Laboratory with well over a thousand dollars in his wallet, Luigi was definitely satisfied. Returning to the wall of Balloon Plants, he sucked one into his vacuum and then carefully began to reverse the airflow. The Balloon Plant began to inflate, swiftly carrying him back up the shaft. Landing silently beside the entrance, he popped the plant and left the Gardener's Dwelling, backtracking to the Tool Shed. There was a hidden entrance there. All he had to do was find it.

            Remembering that an earlier caught Slammer had been banging on the white fountain, Luigi walked over to it and carefully began to examine it. He was not prepared when it suddenly spun around, slamming him into the opposite wall inside of the Toolshed Stairs. Carefully the brunet pulled himself to his feet, scowling darkly. If his ribs hadn't been cracked before, they certainly were now. He glanced at the stairs moving up and down in their locks and sighed before shifting his gaze to the candles. Blue flames. He should have known. After collecting all of the nearby cash, he began to walk up the moving stairs, keeping time so that he wasn't in the air unexpectedly. When he reached the top, Luigi charged the Strobe-light, knowing that something was going to jump out. He was right. It was a Greenie. It giggled loudly, but wasn't able to dodge being stunned. It was quickly sucked into the Poltergust. Instantly the flames returned to orange and the stairs reset themselves to normal. The brunet rolled his eyes. Glancing to his map, he noted that the Botany Lab was the next room. Hopefully it would be quiet. Because both the Conservatory and the Seedling Laboratory would _not._ If anything, they were going to be loud.  

            Stepping into the Botany Lab, Luigi was pleased to note that it was lit. On his right was a single, unbloomed flower and he happily used the Strobe-light on it. It coughed up several twenties in cash and he then proceeded to collect the coins behind the machine. Then he turned his attention to the missing part of the pipe that was attached to the ceiling. Carefully returning it with the Dark-Light Device, he sucked up the Spirit Balls and then flashed all three of the Green Panels that covered the front of the machine. They lit up and water gushed into a nearby tube that contained a small plant. With the sudden rush of water, the plant grew violently, twisting up to rip out of the glass tube and then it continued through the ceiling into the Seedling Laboratory. Luigi blinked. He had been wondering how he was going to make it up into the next room, and he had gotten an answer. It just hadn't been the one that he was expecting.

            Carefully walking up the leaf stairs, he poked his head through the hole in the ceiling and glanced around the Seedling Laboratory. There were two Greenies at the far end – one with sunglasses and the other had a bucket – making a mess of things and the brunet rolled his eyes. He carefully crept forward, nailing the one with a bucket with the Strobe-light before it could cover its face. It was sucked in without a sound, and Luigi quietly snuck up on the one with the sunglasses. He reached out and plucked them right off of the ghost's face. It turned to face him and the brunet rose a single brow. “Why do you idiots insist on destroying things?”

            He then promptly stunned it and sucked it into the vacuum. A splash of blue told him that the Hider was in the drawers in front of him and he quickly took care of that ghost as well. The fourth vane dropped to the floor in front of him and the brunet picked it up. He was really tired of hunting down the vanes and he just wanted to go back to the Bunker. _King Boo is really going to get a piece of my mind for this bullshit._

            Storming over to the door, he wrenched it open and began to stride up the stairs. Upon reaching the door to the Conservatory, he hurled it open and enjoyed watching the three Slammers that appeared flinch. “The Vane. Now.” Fire swirled to life in his hands and the ghosts eyed it warily. Finally the Hider slid out of where it was hiding in the organ and dropped the vane in front of them. Then all of the ghosts disappeared. Picking up the final piece, Luigi's eyes glanced to the Duel Scream, which had finally gone off.

            “Good job, Lys! I knew you would do it without murdering something.”

            “I came really fucking close to doing so at the end.”

            “I know. I'll bring you back to the Bunker so you can rest while I figure out how to re-install them.” The screen went blank and Luigi sighed in relief, before closing the DS and sliding it back into its pocket. He closed his eyes and waited for the pixelation to happen.

            Elvin was sitting in his chair when he opened them again after arriving in the Bunker. “Here.” He pressed a button and Luigi pressed the mouth of the vacuum into the device, watching quietly as it emptied. “About those vanes. I'm pretty sure I have something in my toolbox I can use to put them back into place.”

            “And if you don't?” Luigi handed over the pieces of the pinwheel.

            Elvin gave him a look and took the parts. “Then I'll just make something. Anyway, you look exhausted. Go get some sleep.”

            The brunet rolled his eyes but started off down the hallway. He did need his sleep, and a bath sounded really good right now.


	10. B-3: Graveyard Shift

_**“DAMN IT!”**_ Elvin glanced up at the ceiling as the roar of pain echoed throughout the bunker. _**“ELVIN, YOU HORRIBLE BASTARD, I'M GOING TO FIREBALL YOUR FUCKING ASS!”**_ He winced slightly, carefully hiding his smile behind the mug of coffee in his hands and ignoring the brunet who had just stormed into the kitchen.

“Yes, Lys?”

_**“What the FUCK did you do to my bed?”** _ The scientist warily eyed the fireball in his ghost buster's hand and promptly decided that he just was _that_ suicidal.

“Me? Absolutely nothing.” He smiled innocently. If anything, it made the twitching of Luigi's eyebrow even worse and the dark growl that was rumbling deep in the brunet's chest grew louder. Elvin's lips twitched up and he dove to the side as a roar of green flames turned his chair into ashes. He stared at it for a while, then turned his gaze to the shark tooth smile on Luigi's mouth. “Was that really necessary?”

_**“Absolutely.”** _ He stomped forward and grabbed the front of Elvin's lab coat with one hand. The other formed a second fireball. _**“Now,”** _ he grinned even wider, showing as many teeth as physically possible. (And then some.) _**“What did you do to my bed?”** _

Elvin panicked. “It just dumped water on you!”

_**“I know. Ice water. Care to explain that?** _ ”

“I need your help?” the scientist blurted out.

Luigi's face relaxed, his snarl of utter fury replaced by confusion. “Excuse me?”

E. Gadd wriggled out of the brunet's now relaxed grip and darted over to the nearby shelves. He picked up the vanes to the pinwheel and a wrench before turning around and dumping them into Luigi's arms. “Here. This'll put the pinwheel back together. Once you enter the Hollow Tree, look for a way up. I get the feeling the Dark Moon Piece is somewhere near the top.” He chuckled. “Actually, knowing our luck, it is at the top.” He then hit a red button on the side of the shelf. Before the brunet could even ask a question, he was pixelated into the Haunted Towers.

 

* * *

 

Luigi landed hard on the ground and swore loudly. He was only wearing his leather pants, nothing else. There was a thud as his equipment hit the floor next to him and he hissed darkly. “Dammit, Elvin! I need a shirt!” There was no response. “Can I at least have my coat?” The trench coat appeared shortly later and he pulled it on over his bare shoulders. “Boots?” The snakeskin boots landed with a small thud and he slipped them on with a low growl. Elvin was going to die a horrible death when he got back to the Bunker.

Grumbling loudly, he slipped the Poltergust on and switched it to the flashlight. He held it up and promptly found himself face to face with one of the gigantic Venus Flytraps. Luigi couldn't have stopped the scream that ripped out of his throat, even if he tried. He hurled himself backwards, tripping over his own boots and landing hard on his ass. The huge plant snapped its jaws at him and the brunet was thankful to see that he was just out of its range. There was only one problem though. The plant itself was blocking the way into the Haunted Towers, and he was going to have to kill it to get in. Damn. Just what he needed this early. Or was it late? Luigi pulled out the Duel Scream and glanced at it, thankful for the fact that E. Gadd had included a clock on it. 11 PM. Or rather, Luigi mused as the number ticked over, 11:01 PM. He just knew it was going to be midnight by the time he got out of here.

Jumping back a little further, he dodged to the right and darted past the Venus Flytrap. On the other side was a blocked water pipe, a bucket, and two plants that needed water. Raising the head of the vacuum up to the pipe, Luigi sucked whatever was blocking it out and watched as water began to flow freely. Picking up the bucket, he filled it and promptly dumped it on the plants. One was the familiar purple flower, and the other was a prickly bush. Carefully pulling one off, and minding the thorns, he chucked it at the plant. It snapped the spiky fruit out of the air and chewed loudly. Then it screamed in pain and keeled over. The brunet winced. That had to have been a painful way to go, not to mention ugly. He sighed under his breath and waited as the plant remains crumbled away from the gate before stepping forward and through.

Once through the gate, his eyes narrowed. At the remains of the Pinwheel Gate were two ghosts. A Slammer and a Greenie. The Greenie was encouraging the Slammer to do something. Luigi wasn't sure of what until the red ghost smashed its fist into the remaining vane. _Oh hell, no_. They weren't going to break what he was trying to fix. He began to stride quickly forward, fireballs forming in both hands. The Greenie noticed him first, and it darted into the nearest wall to hide. He stepped forward to the edge of the log bridge and sighed under his breath when two more Slammers ripped out of the ground behind him. He turned around and promptly had to stifle a snicker. They looked ridiculous with flowerpots on their heads, but he wasn't stupid enough to say that to their faces. Swift movement combined with careful aim meant that he was able to nail all three at the same time with the Strobe-light, and they went in easy, dropping a total of 240 bucks. (In gold bars, too.)

Seeing no sign of the missing Greenie, Luigi settled in to wait. He didn't have to wait long though, as it soon popped its head out of the nearby wall and glanced around. Apparently he was just out of the ghost's range of sight, as it didn't notice him. That is, it didn't notice him until he stood up and stunned it with the Strobe-light. Luigi sighed under his breath, again, and walked forward until he was standing in front of the pinwheel. Pulling the missing vanes out of a pocket on his coat, the brunet slipped them into place and used the wrench to tighten it. Then, he spun the wheel. Hard. It whirred around, in endless circles and the gate made a rather high pitched noise as it separated to open. He stepped through, his trench coat snapped open and the brunet sighed. He kind of wished that Elvin had given him his shirt.

Luigi pointedly ignored the giggly swooning of the ghosts that he had befriended and stomped up to the entrance of the tree. He just wanted to kick King Boo's ass already so he could go home and sleep. The wooden door that looked a lot like teeth opened quick enough to avoid being roasted by a fireball and he stepped through.

The Hollow Tree was huge, stretching up far above him. In the center was a puddle of water and on the other side of that was an exit, one that was covered in spiderwebs. There were also several staircases leading up. Luigi was willing to bet that there was only one correct path. (He was right. Oh how he did hate it when he was right.) The first set of stairs had a Slammer on the right one, the second had a Greenie. Also on the right. The third had a Greenie as well, only this time it was on the left. Luigi did what he usually does when his temper snaps. He threw a fit and fireballed anything that got in his way.

At the top of the flights of stairs was another door, covered in spiderwebs. Luigi didn't even bother with the torches on the wall, he just lit it up in a rush of green flames. It crackled merrily, burning away quickly and revealing the opening. He stepped forward, only to recoil sharply when the huge mouth snapped shut, shaking the entire room violently. It also came with loud, rough laughter that sounded like a horse ghost cackling. The new door looked exactly like creepy face that one might see on a clown, except the nose was a keyhole. Luigi shivered and took a step back, and glanced down as the Duel Scream went off. Elvin did not look pleased.

“Dammit! Where the hell did that creepy looking door come from? Not to mention that laughter. Brr. Still, that's the only way up to the treetop!” He scowled darkly. “Give me a minute.” There was the sound of furious typing before the scientist sighed. “Well, I've found something in the Haunted Tower's records. There's a special key that opens that door, except it's hidden in the Crypt.”

“The Crypt? Like a place where the dead is buried?”

“Correct.”

“I can already see that this isn't going to end well.”

“My thoughts exactly. Anyway, it's not like it's going to be full of vengeful spirits or anything.”

Luigi's eyes narrowed. “God dammit, Elvin. If you've jinxed me, I am so going to fireball your ass when I return to the bunker.”

The scientist laughed nervously. “Let's hope not.” His image in the Duel Scream vanished and Luigi flipped it closed before returning it to a coat pocket. He walked over to the edge of the platform and looked over the edge. There was a line of webs that he could use as a bungee....... Luigi's lips curved up and he took several steps backwards before darting forward and hurling himself off of the edge. He grabbed the ball of webbing that was hanging on his right side and laughed delightedly as he fell four stories to the bottom of the Hollow Tree. There was a snap and he jerked hard, fall stopped entirely just a few feet away from the pool of water and the brunet let go. He fell with a splash and returned to the surface, laughing cheerfully and wiping his now soaked hair out of his face. He turned to face the second web covered entrance at the nearby edge of the pool and swam swiftly toward it. A blast of green fire and the webbing was reduced to ashes, and the brunet gleefully dried himself off. That had been fun, but he really didn't need to go around soaked to the bone.

A swift boot planted in the middle of the wooden door sent it flying open and Luigi stepped into the Tree Root tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, he removed the fake wall and carefully tugged on the vine rope. It opened up a small chute passage and the brunet carefully stepped into it. It shot up the moment he was settled on it and he was hurled out through a stone crow's mouth into a graveyard. Luigi sighed and rubbed his side. That had hurt quite a bit.

Cautiously he walked down the path in front of him and made sure to stay as far away from the graves as possible. Across the small pool of water was a set of gold bars, along with a Golden Greenie. Netting that one gave the brunet 150 bucks and he smirked, before returning to the graves.. Pulling a bar of chocolate out of his coat, Luigi opened it and bit off a chunk. He stared up the stairs to the Crypt at the top and sighed under his breath. He could already see that this wasn't going to go well. He walked silently up the stairs, ignoring the caws coming from the crows surrounding him and carefully opened the door. At the far end of the building, hiding behind a cracked wall, was a painting. Of a Toad. Luigi let out a low whimper. He could already see where this was going. Apparently, whoever had been creating the paintings –The brunet was _**positive** _ that it was King Boo– had figured out how to seal living beings into them. He sighed for the nth time and rubbed his eyes, before running a hand through his hair. He knew he was messing it up, but by this point, he didn't care. Luigi shook his head, chestnut locks falling into his face and he pushed them back. _What to do. What to do. I don't want to babysit a Toad, but I don't think I have a choice in the matter. Dammit. I am_ _**so** _ _going to give that asshole Boo king a piece of my mind when I find him. The dick._ He walked forward and carefully aimed the Dark-Light Device at the painting and activated it. There was the familiar rainbow of colors, and the brunet watched as the Toad slowly colored in and it was pulled out of the canvas. His lips quirked up. That had actually been rather cool. The only downside was the fact that he was going to have to babysit the damn thing. Just great. Just f-ing great.

The red spotted Toad let out a squeal of delight. “I'm free!” before pausing and looking really confused. “Wait… Luigi? What are you doing here? ” The brunet rolled his eyes and stumbled when the Toad latched onto his leg. “Aww, it doesn't matter. You're my hero!”

“Great,” he muttered. “Now get off me.” The Toad let out another noise of happiness and jumped around the Crypt. Luigi sighed again. It was like watching a child be high on sugar. And possibly a combination of every drug in existence. It wasn't pretty. Rolling his eyes hard enough to hurt, he turned towards the door to the room they were in and began walking.

“Wait, Luigi! Where are you going?”

“Out. Follow me or not. Do what you will. I don't care. But,” he whirled around and fixed the Toad with a dark look. “If I get into a fight with ghosts… Do. Not. Get. In. My. Way. Understand?”

All the brunet got was a nod. _I guess I scared him. Oh well. I don't need to trip over him in a fight._ He stepped out of the building and, noting that the torches were still unlit, formed several fireballs in the air. They glowed brightly, casting a green light about, but it was enough for him to comfortably see his surroundings. He beckoned the Toad. “Come on. I'll try and get you back to E. Gadd. And for fuck's sake, will you be quiet?”

There was dead silence, but the sound of footsteps following Luigi told him that the Toad was there. They were just passing by the graves that he had avoided earlier, when a pink arm holding a mirror burst out of the ground to his right. A flash of turquoise to his left revealed a second ghost pulling herself out of the ground, also holding a mirror. In front of him was a little yellow ghost, mirror in hand. She was clearly the youngest of the three. Toad shrieked in surprise and bolted for the Crypt, only to be halted by the purple grate slamming down. He pressed himself against it, making sure to stay completely out of the way. Luigi rolled his eyes. He said that he wanted room to capture ghosts, but he didn't need _that_ much room.

They began to circle him, mirrors covering their faces, until the pink one shifted it and blew a kiss to him. Luigi wanted to gag, and he was sure that all of the color in his face had drained out. That was horrifying. His flash of the Strobe-light nailed her directly and he winced. 150 strength. That wasn't going to be fun. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noted the other two coming in on both sides for an attack and he let the pink one drag him far enough forward to dodge it before nailing her with two fireballs. That got her strength low enough down that a power charge of the vacuum was enough to suck her in. The other two ghosts instantly vanished.

They reappeared shortly, once again circling him swiftly. This time it was the youngest who giggled and waved in his direction. The brunet wasted no time in hitting her with the Strobe-light and, seeing as she was only at 50 strength, it was easy to beat her. She joined her older sister in the Poltergust. The turquoise one vanished, before returning to circle around him, mirror once again covering her face. The moment she shifted the reflecting glass to wave shyly at him, she was nailed in the face with a fireball, followed by a flash of the Strobe-light. She was in the middle of the three, 100 strength, and was soon sucked into the vacuum.

The moment all three ghosts were captured, the graveyard brightened considerably and the purple grates blocking the exits vanished. Luigi jumped slightly when the Duel Scream went off. Elvin's face filled its screen. “As I live and breathe! Those were the ghosts of the Three Sisters! They're regular paranormal celebrities! The Parascope went nuts for a little while, but it's fine now. The sisters are normally very polite ghosts. It's disturbing to see them act so…rude! Good job capturing them!” There was the sound of static and the brunet realized that E.Gadd had hung up.

Behind him, the Toad jumped to his feet and hurried over. “That was amazing, Luigi!”

“Thank you. For both the compliment and for staying out of my way. Those three would have been a lot harder had you been underfoot.” Luigi paused for a few minutes. “Do you have a name? Or does E. Gadd just call you Toad?”

Toad smiled. “I prefer to go by Meric. I'm pretty sure there are five of us total. Me here in the Haunted Towers, Ican's in the Old Clockworks, Nita's stationed in the Treacherous Mansion with Denzel, and Zexus is in the Secret Mine.” He frowned. “At least, that's where they should be. With the Boos everywhere, I wouldn't be surprised if they were sealed in paintings too.”

There was a few seconds of silence. “I feel like I should warn you of this, but us Toads? We do NOT like water. You'll have to carry us across. It's almost like poison to our bodies.” Luigi stared at him for a long time.

“Are you serious?”

“No.” Meric calmly stepped into the pool of water and walked across it. Luigi made a huffing noise in his throat and followed the shorter male. “There's a path here.” He hopped onto the coffin that was nearby and shifted his weight. It began to sink into the ground. “It should take us to the Sewer, and from there the Gardener's Laboratory where the screen is.” Luigi hummed softly and stepped onto the coffin. It sank into the ground, falling several stories to drift to a stop at the bottom of the shaft. The two of them stepped off and watched in silence as it ascended back into the Old Graveyard. He sighed.

“Right. I know where we are. This way.” He turned to the left and began walking down the path towards the Labs. At the end, he opened the door and turned to his right. “You sure about being fine with water?”

“Yes.” Meric stalked past him and scowled at the water in front of them. “You might have to carry me for this one though. It's definitely chest deep on you, therefore it's too high for me. Luigi shifted the Poltergust to one arm and used the other to help Meric jump onto his back. Then he carefully began to wade through the chest deep water. Stepping back onto the bank on the other side, Meric hopped off of his back and scowled at his soaked pants. “Damn. I hate being wet.”

Luigi smirked. “There are perks of being able to summon fireballs.” Two rushes of green flame left them both dry and comfortably warm.

“There's the screen. Turn it on and I'll see you at the Bunker. By the way, nice chest.” Luigi spluttered loudly, suddenly remembering that he wasn't wearing a shirt under his coat. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, flicking the switch as he went. _No wonder those sisters were flirting with me._ The brunet watched in amusement as Meric saluted him before disappearing into the screen.

His Duel Scream went off. Elvin was grinning widely. “I hear your lack of a shirt meant that the resident spirits were flirting with you.”

“Shut up and fuck off.”

“Okay, okay. Sheesh.” The scientist held up his hands. “Nice work capturing the Three Sisters and leading my Toad assistant to safety. He just popped out of the screen over here. Now it's your turn.” Luigi rolled his eyes but let the scientist pixelate him back to the Bunker.

When he reformed in the Bunker, Meric was waiting for him with Elvin. The cheeky Toad waved cheerfully before disappearing into the kitchen and returning with a mug of hot coffee. Elvin frowned. “You don't do that for me,” he complained.

“I like Luigi. He's nice. Unlike _some people_ ,” Meric returned.

Elvin rolled his eyes. “You mess up one time… Anyway, since Meric brought back an image from my security cameras, I'll try and unscramble the damn thing.”

Luigi snorted and dropped the Poltergust onto the floor. Its clatter distracted the two long enough that he was able to escape down the hallway towards the shower. He needed one, along with a long nap.


	11. B-4: Pool Party

            Luigi stepped into the kitchen the next morning feeling like he had been run over. The fight yesterday with the Three Sisters, though babysitting Meric hadn't been that bad, had exhausted him to the point of collapsing. He rubbed his eyes and sank down into the nearest chair, only opening them when he recognized the sound of a coffee cup being placed in front of him. Blue eyes cracked open slowly, and the brunet winced at the bright light. There was the rustle of clothing and Luigi moved enough to pull on a shirt and his boots. His trench coat was thrown over a nearby chair.

            “Good morning,” Meric murmured softly. The Toad didn't look nearly as tired as he did, but Luigi was sure that was because the other male didn't fight the Three Sisters.

            Elvin sniffed. “You're never that kind with me.”

            Meric rolled his eyes and said, “You don't pay me enough to be nice to you when you're hungover.”

            “But he doesn't pay you! I do!”

            “Exactly.” Luigi managed to gather enough energy to snort at the look on Gadd's face. It wasn't a pretty one.

            “If this is your way of telling me that you want a raise, then it's a shitty one,” Elvin grumbled loudly. “Anyway, Lys, I've unscrambled the image that Meric brought back. Shall we take a look?” He pressed a few keys and the image was pulled up onto the screen in front of them. On the left side of the screen was a Boo and a pink ghost. Luigi scowled deeply. There, being handed to the Sneaker by the Boo, was the key that they needed. Elvin frowned. “Hold on a sec… That key there! It looks really special if you ask me. That Boo is handing it over to that pinkish ghost!” The brunet rolled his eyes. Sometimes the scientist could be really dense.

            Elvin zoomed out. Luigi pointed to the two Boos carrying a bag with a painting in it. “What are those Boos carrying? Suspicious…” He shifted the image around. “The Rooftop Pool seems to be a meeting place for the Boos. Their power increases when they gang up, and they feed off each others evil energy.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “I know that one already, Elvin.” He took the controls for the screen and carefully shifted it around, looking for the shadow of King Boo. Seeing nothing, he returned them to Elvin and stepped back.

            The scientist blinked, almost as if he had just realized something. “That key in the image! It must be the special key we're looking for!”

            “Your deduction ability astounds me sometimes.”

            “Lys..... Enough of the sarcasm. I get enough of that from Meric, I don't need it from you, too.” He began typing away on the keyboard. “I've marked the Rooftop Pool for you. Go get that special key!” He pressed the button on the side of his chair and watched as Luigi was pixelated into the Haunted Towers.

            He landed silently and strode forward through the gate into the Courtyard, only to pause and sigh at the sight of two gigantic Venus Flytraps that were blocking the way. A dark scowl crossed his lips and the brunet swiftly formed a fireball in each hand. The plants shied back, slinking away from the flames as best as they could. Luigi felt slightly bad, but he really wasn't in the mood to deal with them. Carefully he walked past the one on the left and headed towards the door to the Tower Lobby, dousing his fireballs and opening it when he was near.

            He stepped into the Tower Lobby and dodged to the left when a red plant smashed into the ground nearby. It shivered, pulled back and Luigi could see marks on the underside of the petals where it had hit the floor. He didn't even give it time to try again, reacting with swift and deadly flames. The plant didn't stand a chance. He was pleased to note that, with the water running, the bridge was properly in place and he didn't have to go through the Greenhouse. He jogged up the stairs, revealing missing piping with the Dark-Light Device as he went, and opened the door to the Plant Nursery.

            This time there weren't any huge Venus Flytraps. Just a little plant in the center that clearly needed water. The gauge that controlled the water was on near the door on the other side of the room and he walked over to it. Twisting it all the way to the left opened up the valves and water poured out of a slot on the piping, directly onto the plant. Luigi moved closer unsure as to what was going to happen next. Whatever it was, he wasn't expecting for the plant to explode up, ripping through the ceiling in the process and allowing him access to the Rumpus Room.

            Carefully he walked up it, poking his head through the hole in the floor to see into the room. It was dark, with a really fucking creepy dollhouse on his right and a series of dolls and Jack-in-the-boxes to his left. Behind him was the door to the Family Room, but it was blocked by a purple grate. His eyes narrowed. The dollhouse had a window lit. Cautiously he slunk closer and carefully looked through the window into the house. Or rather, he looked through the window and saw himself, looking into the doll house. And there, in the corner, was a shaking green box. The brunet sighed and pulled himself away from the window before walking over to the box and spinning the handle. Music played and he charged the Strobe-light, ready for anything. The Jack popped out of the box, along with a Greenie and creepy laughter. Out of reflex, he released the charge and stunned both the first ghost and the second one that followed. As he sucked those two into the Poltergust, two more followed, and then two more after that. Once all six ghosts were in the machine, the room brightened and he relaxed.

            The Family Room was separated into two sections, a kitchen area and a living room. Plants had destroyed a good chunk of the kitchen and he carefully snuck into the living room where the radio was playing an oddly familiar song. Luigi's lipped thinned as he thought. He knew that song. Come to think of it, the record player in the Gloomy Manor had also played that song. His eyes narrowed. And he knew it from somewhere, he just couldn't place it. And he wasn't quite sure that he liked that.

            Luigi sighed under his breath and opened the door to the Solarium. It was dark, but not the tense darkness that signaled ghosts. Yanking the chain at the bottom of the stairs forced the first flight into the correct position and he walked silently up them. At the top was a hole in the wall. Curious, he looked through. In the room was three beds, and in each bed was a Hider. Then one hit the other with their pillow and it descended into madness. A feathery madness. Luigi's lips quirked up and he snickered, only to stop when a gorgeous man stepped into the room. He was tall, easily six feet, with white hair that fell down to the small of his lower back. His eyes were a glowing violet, and he had a crown on the top of his head. Luigi felt like he should recognize the damn thing from somewhere, it **_was_** really fucking familiar… But all he knew was that the man was the sexiest thing that he had seen in quite a while, and he hadn't gotten laid in a long time. So sue him for not paying quite as much attention as he should have.

            The man, definitely the best looking male he'd seen, snapped something at the Hiders and they giggled, settling into their beds, and he vanished into nothing. Luigi's lips parted, before the man had left, he had looked in his direction. Inside of the brunet's mind, his brain was running around in circles and screaming in delight.

            Then there was the press of a hand on his back. Luigi was whirled around and slammed against the wall, his own hands pinned there by two larger ones. The white haired male smirked, showing fangs, and the brunet's eyes widened. “Hello,” he murmured.

            _“Hello yourself, my little eavesdropper.”_

            Luigi flushed and said, “I didn't mean to. It's just… With ghosts around, I have to be careful.”

            The man laughed _. “I understand, little one.”_

            Blue eyes flashed dangerously. “It's Luigi, you ass. I prefer Lys though.”

            Glowing violet eyes widened slightly with surprise. _“Well then, Lys, I go by Kaihau.”_ Kaihau smirked. He could feel the smaller male shiver with the way his name was pronounced.

            Luigi pressed a finger to his lips and tilted his head in thought. “Supreme ruler?” he asked.

            There was a minute of silence. _“Yes.”_ The brunet's eyes regarded him carefully. _“In any case, be careful, little Lys. Don't do anything that could get yourself killed.”_ He reached into a pocket on his own jacket and pulled out a single golden key. _“Here you go.”_ And with that, he was gone.

            Luigi's gaze switched from the place where Kaihau had been standing to the key in his hand, and then back again. And again. “Holy shit. That really just happened, didn't it.” Opening the door to the Western Bedroom, he raced across the floor and pressed the key he was given into the lock. It slid in easily, and with a click, the door opened. Luigi stepped into the West Hall and glanced down at his map. The door to the West Bathroom was locked, so it only left the Crow's Nest as a viable path option. He walked cautiously over to the door and slipped it open. There wasn't anything on the pathway, but there were a ton of crows on the railings. Taking a deep breath, he darted forward, racing across the thin spindly path to the door on the other side. Crows lifted off of the railings and darted forward, missing him barely. He skidded to a halt in front of the door to the Conservatory and threw it open. As it closed behind him, Luigi could hear the thudding of the birds hitting the door. He smirked. _Serves them right for attacking me. I shoulda just flamed them but good._

            He glanced around the Conservatory, noting the fact that it was now a lot more grown over then it had been a couple days ago. _Guess plants grow quick here,_ he mused. Tugging one of the Balloon Plants into his Poltergust, he inflated it and began to float up towards the balcony levels.

            _In retrospect, I probably should have seen the spiked chandelier._ Luigi scowled from where he was laying flat on his back on the floor. That had hurt, falling from that height, but he hadn't seen the spikes until they had popped the balloon he was using to float up. Pulling himself to his feet, he marched forward _,_ ignored the pain in his ribs, and plucked a second balloon from the plant.

            This time, he made it to the balcony without hitting the spikes. And promptly stepped onto the rug that was covering a hole in the floor. **_FUCK!_** Luigi let out a shriek and fell right through, only to be caught by someone before he hit the ground. There was a low rumble of laughter in his ear, and white hair fell into his vision. “Oh,” he sighed out, half in horror, half in relief. “It's you.”

            _“Hello again, little Lys. Having fun?”_

            “Fuck you. I think I cracked a rib. Or two.”

            A single eyebrow rose up. _“Are you sure?”_ He gently placed the brunet onto the ground.

            Luigi felt along his side and tried to draw in a deep breath. He stopped when pain made his vision swim. “Yes. Maybe. I think I can feel the break.” He scowled deeply. “Or rather, I think I can feel the multiple breaks. Dammit.”

            _“You know,”_ Kaihau began, _“for Mario's sibling, you're nothing like I expected.”_ He dropped his voice low enough that the brunet wouldn't hear. _“Or remember.”_

            “Yeah, well. I'm not an asshole for starters.” The brunet dropped his head into his hands and let out a low whimper of pain before pulling himself to his feet.

            _“What the hell are you doing? You probably have broken ribs.”_

            Luigi rolled his eyes so hard that it _hurt_. “I know, but I have something I need to get. And I can't leave without it.”

            _“Is there any way I can convince you to **not** aggravate your injuries any further?”_

            The brunet gave him a look. “Careful. I might start to think that you're actually worried about me.” He grabbed another balloon plant and inflated it, carefully floating up to the balcony above.

            Kaihau's lips thinned. _“But I am worried about you,”_ he whispered shortly after the door closed above him. His eyebrows furrowed, violet eyes closing as he sighed.

            When Luigi returned to the Conservatory and carefully floated down again to the floor, Kaihau was gone. He glanced around, eyes narrowing slightly. He did like Kaihau, it was just… he wasn't used to having people care about him. Mario certainly hadn't.

            As he carefully made his way across the Crow's next, Luigi pulled the Duel Scream from a pocket and flipped it open. Elvin answered immediately. “Do you need something, Lys?”

            “Yes. Bandages. Please.” He winced as each step he took tugged on his ribs.

            “What? What happened?”

            “I fell through a floor and cracked, I think, two of my ribs. I'm almost at the pool though, so I figured I'd continue on.”

            Elvin's lips pursed. “Alright, Lys. But if you become any more injured, I'm pixelating you back right then, okay?”

            Luigi nodded. “Fine with me,” he rasped.

            Elvin tapped several keys and a roll of bandages appeared nearby. Luigi knelt down slowly and picked up the roll. He draped his coat and shirt over the railing and, with Elvin's advice, tugged the bandages tight enough to keep his ribs into place. The scientist smiled softly. “Good luck.”

            Luigi closed the Duel Scream and placed it into its pocket. He then coughed several times and spat the blood that was in his mouth from biting through his tongue over the side of the railing. Thankfully the ribs hadn't pierced a lung. Yet. He picked his way to the door to the West Hall and quietly opened it. Then he unlocked the door to the West Bathroom. Inside he was greeted by a Slammer and two Greenies, one of which was wearing sunglasses. The brunet knew his movement would be limited with his ribs and he carefully stunned both the Slammer and one of the Greenies. They both went into the Poltergust easily. He fireballed the sunglasses wearing one out of existence and whimpered as his ribs twinged in pain. There was a pile of goo on the floor and he sighed. _Looks like it's a Creeper. Damn. I hate them._ He sucked it out of its puddle and stunned it. _Endless health. Guess I'll have to use a power surge to suck it in._ One power surge later and the room brightened considerably.

           He glanced at the lawn chair and carefully sank down on it, only to pause when it began to lift up into the air. _This is the path to the Rooftop Pool, then. What idiot designed this?_

            The Rooftop Pool was dark, and his eyes narrowed. _I haven't run into Sneakers yet. This must be where they are hiding. Fuck._ Carefully walking over to the missing frog statue, he revealed it and whimpered when the key was dropped into the center of the pool. He glanced down at the four foot drop into the water. Nope. Not gonna risk it. He stepped to the side and took the route around the edge of the pool to the stairs on the other side. He took them down into the waist deep water and waded over to the key, only to pause when the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

            “Please don't,” he muttered under his breath. “I might have broken ribs and I'm in pain.” Surprisingly, they listened, and four Sneakers flickered into existence. They giggled, one poked at his ribs, and then all of them vanished, the room brightening now that they were gone. Luigi picked up the key and held it into the air to look at it, only for the thing to be stolen from his hands by a ghostly dog. “Don't you fucking dare,” he hissed out, only to snarl in absolute rage as it jumped right out of the window with the key.

            His Duel Scream went off. “Goddamn mutt,” Elvin muttered. “Where the fuck did it come from?”

            “What I want to know is where the fuck it went,” Luigi ground out before sighing. “Just pixelate me back already. My ribs are really starting to hurt.” Elvin nodded and tapped a few keys on the board.

            He landed silently in the Bunker and winced as the pain in his ribs flared up. Elvin was sitting in his usual chair, scowling darkly. “Well,” he muttered. “I didn't see that coming. We need to recover that damn key at all costs. I tried to locate that confounded canine with the Parascope, but the doggone dog's gone.”

            Luigi groaned at the horrible joke and dropped his head into his hands. “ _Please._ Don't.”

            Elvin threw his hands up in frustration. “Of all the luck we had to run into… This is the absolute worst! Anyway, let's unload the Poltergust 5000.”

            He paused. “You go and rest. I'll try and tune the Parascope to find that dog's hiding place.” Luigi nodded and carefully walked down the hallway.

            _It took almost a month for his cracked ribs to heal. Luigi swore he was going to murder that fucking dog if it was last thing he did. Especially if it was the last thing he did._


	12. B-5: Doggone Key

            He wasn't mad. No, not at all. He was far past mad, well into ' _Run, he's homicidal!_ ' territory. And the cause?

            A Polterpup. A single, god damn, motherfucking Polterpup. Luigi's eyes narrowed. He was sitting at the kitchen table, sketching out another plan to catch the damn thing. This one involved Duck Tape, chicken legs, a box, and fire. Lots and lots of fire. He cackled gleefully and inked in a dog being set alight.

            “Lys. Please. Stop.”

            “Huh?” The brunet looked up to see Elvin sitting opposite him at the table. The scientist was sheet white, hands shaking violently. He was also edging away from him. Meric was in the kitchen and Luigi could see that he was hiding the knives.

            “Please. You're scaring me. For the love of everything sane, just go out and hunt down the stupid mutt already. The Dark-Light Device should reveal the dog's paw prints.” He hit a button on the side of his chair and Luigi was sucked into the Pixelator. He scowled, and waited until he reappeared again to swear loudly at the older male through the camera.

            “Can I at least have my stuff?” There was a series of seconds with no movement before his Poltergust, boots, and trench coat appeared in a pile. Again, for the second time, Elvin hadn't given him a shirt. Luigi was beginning to think the scientist planned this. With a darkening scowl, he pulled on both the boots and his coat and slipped the Poltergust onto his back. His eyes narrowed. On the other side of the wall, running amok in the Courtyard, was the dog. A fireball formed in his left hand as the brunet used the right one to open the gate.

            Instantly the fireball vanished and a fury lit within the brunet. That fucking beast had mangled the key by chewing on it! Just as he was about to move forward and grab the Polterpup, the dog threw the key into the air and ate it. _That fucking does it. Now you're going to die._ Fireballs reformed and he hurled them at the dog, but the Polterpup was faster. It hightailed it out of the area, vanishing through the wall that led to the Hydro Generator, and through there, the East Hall. “Huh,” he muttered. “Probably in the Tool Shed. That area has the most hiding places.” His eyes narrowed even further and he stalked towards the door.

            The Duel Scream went off. Elvin's face appeared in the other end. Luigi's lips thinned. “What? I'm busy.”

            “I understand that.”

            “I hope you like meat, 'cause I'm planning a dish that uses dog.”

            “Uhh. About that. Don't kill the Polterpup. I like him, he's cute.”

            “Can I maim him?”

            “No.” Elvin's face disappeared and the connection closed.

            “Damn,” he muttered. “I was looking forward to mauling the bastard.” Pulling open the door to the Hydro Generator, he stepped in and immediately turned on the Dark-Light Device. Sure enough, there were ghostly paw prints on the floor. They tracked across the first bridge, hung a sharp left and on the wall was the shape of the stupid dog. Luigi sighed, turned around, and entered the East Hall. The door to the Tool Shed was on his right and he smoothly pulled it open before stepping into the room.

            Once again it was dark and Luigi instantly flicked on the device. Paw prints ran across the room and vanished into the set of drawers on the right, the ones that were closest to the entrance of the Toolshed Stairs. Carefully he stepped forward, Strobe-light charged, and reached out to open the drawer. Instead, the Polterpup leapt out before he could and slammed directly into his chest. Luigi let out a yelp and fell over backwards, landing hard on his back. The Polterpup landed on top and barked happily, before leaning down and licking his face. Then it was gone, bouncing off of him and through the door that led to the Garden. Luigi rolled over and wiped slime off of his face and used the wall as a brace to pull himself to his feet. He was scowling darkly, even as he yanked open the door to the Garden.

            It was dark as well, and he spotted a few Sneakers fading into nothing. He pressed his back against the door and charged the Strobe-light, but nothing came. Carefully the brunet stepped forward, stopping only when he noted the Polterpup by the lawnmower. It barked again, before jumping up and yanking on the mower's pull cord. Luigi's heart froze. _Oh, fuck!_ He hurled himself out of the way, clutching at his beating heart as the mower barely missed him. The white ghost barked again and vanished into the wall for the Toolshed Stairs. Luigi's eyes narrowed and he swiftly got to his feet. _Well then, I hope you realize that this means war, mutt_. However, when he reached the door to the Tool Shed, a purple grate slammed down and a Sneaker appeared in front of him.

            It's sneak attack was met with a fireball to the face. Luigi's smile was predatory. “Well then,” he purred. “I'm mad as hell and you'll do perfectly.” His grin widened when all three Sneakers glanced at each other, now uncertain. Then they faded into nothing. He charged the Strobe-light and released it, catching all three in the flash. A power surge later and they were swiftly sucked into the Poltergust. His eyes narrowed. _Now for that damn mutt._

            He stepped back into the Tool Shed and knocked firmly on the entrance to the Toolshed Stairs, making sure that he wasn't caught unaware by the rotating door. It spun around and he smirked, only to be run over by the Polterpup. He stumbled and, at the last second, noted the pile of purple ooze, barely managing to miss landing in it. A suck of the vacuum forced it into its proper shape, and from there all he had to do was stun it and use a power surge to pull it into the Poltergust. Did he mention that he officially hated Creepers?

            With the Creeper taken care of, he hurled a fireball at the dog barking loudly at the top of the stairs. It dodged and ran left, disappearing into the Botany Lab. He scowled darkly, only to jump as familiar laughter rang through the air.

            “Kaihau.”

            _“Hello, little Lys.”_

            The brunet's eyes narrowed. “Going to mock my inability to catch a mutt?”

            _“Actually, no. I was just making sure you were alright.”_

            “I'm fine. Why else would I be chasing a mutt clear across the Haunter Towers?”

            _“I meant the ribs, little Lys. How are they?”_

            “Oh, them. They're fine. Completely healed. See?” He shifted his trench coat out of the way and went to tug his shirt up, only to realize that he wasn't wearing one. Because Elvin hadn't given him one earlier.

            _“Feeling a little warm?”_

            Luigi's cheeks flamed red. “Shut up. Elvin didn't give me one this morning.”

            A rumble of laughter was his answer. _“The Polterpup will probably end up in either the West Bedroom or the West Bathroom. It's where he likes to sleep.”_ Kaihau took several steps forward and took Luigi's hand, only to bend over and gently press his lips against the back of it.

            The brunet's eyes went huge and his already red cheeks deepened in color. Kaihau laughed softly and vanished, leaving Luigi alone on the Toolshed Stairs. He sagged against the wall and pressed a hand to his chest. “Holy shit,” he breathed out, completely stunned. “That shouldn't have been as hot as it was.” His eyes narrowed slowly. “That color scheme though, it's really familiar...... Who do I know that is white, with a crown and glowing violet eyes?”

            He paused, feeling his heart sinking in his chest. “And why do I feel like I already know the answer and that I'm not going to like it?”

            A bark broke though his thoughts and Luigi sighed. “Right. Come here, mutt.” He stomped up the stairs, watched as the dog ran up the wall and disappeared into the ceiling, before throwing open the door of the Botany Lab. He scowled, but sighed half in relief. He wasn't going to have to deal with any ghosts here. And he shouldn't have to deal with anyone in the Seedling Laboratory. At least, he hoped so.

            He was right. There was nothing in the Seedling Laboratory, though he did run into a Gold Greenie on the stairs leading to the Conservatory, and he threw open the door to the room. Fireballs instantly formed, chasing away the darkness and he watched with glee as the nearby plants shied away from the flames. There, where the organ should have been, was nothing. His eyes narrowed and he forced the thing to reveal itself. The Polterpup leapt out of the organ and hid behind it, barking loudly and panting away. And there, blocking the way behind the organ was a Creeper on the floor. Luigi sighed under his breath and sucked it up before darting towards the dog. He wasn't fast enough though, and it leapt through the plants and then the wall facing the Crow's Nest.

            Luigi scowled. He didn't like walking that area. It was too high up with very little to support him. He stalked back around the organ, but the moment he touched the door, a purple grate slammed down. Three Greenies and a Globber appeared and the brunet sighed. The Greenies were easy to stun with one flash and they sucked into the Poltergust quickly. Then he turned his attention to the Gloober. It was spitting something at him and he nailed it in the stomach with a fireball. It squealed loudly and he hit it again. One more fireball and he was able to stun and suck it into the Poltergust. The room instantly brightened and Luigi nodded. There.

            He swiftly turned around and stalked out of the room, quickly making his way across the Crow's Nest. Kaihau was waiting at the end, near the window into the West Bathroom. He could kind of see into it, what the white haired male's shoulder wasn't blocking, and Luigi scowled when he saw the Polterpup rolling around on the floor. _“Hello again, little Lys.”_

            Luigi ignored him, instead choosing to stalk past the man. He opened the door to the West Hall and stepped into it, then headed directly into the Western Bathroom. Kaihau didn't follow, his lips turning down into a deep frown.

            The Polterpup was nowhere to be found when Luigi entered the room, but the paw prints revealed by the Dark-Light Device told the brunet exactly where the mutt was. He stalked over to the toilet and kicked it, dodging out of the way when the ghost leapt out. It vanished instantly through the wall to the Western Bedroom and he sighed. “Damn. I should of stunned it then and there.” He turned around and paused. Kaihau was leaning in through the window.

            _“Told you the Polterpup would wind up in the Western Bedroom.”_ He smiled, violet eyes crinkling up at the edges.

            “Yes,” Luigi coolly responded, smashing down any of the crush that he had on Kaihau. “Thank you for your information. Now, if you will excuse me.”

            He stalked out of the room, leaving a stunned male behind.

            _He might not be quite as social or brave as his brother, but Luigi was the cunning and intelligent one._

Inside the West Hall, Luigi paused only to suck the Mini Creepers into the vacuum before hesitating and glancing around. He swallowed and stiffened his back before slipping into the West Bedroom. Following the paw prints that led to the bed in the middle, he sucked the covers off and stunned the Polterpup with the Strobe-light the moment it appeared. It struggled, but was swiftly sucked into the vacuum. The key that the damn dog had mangled popped out of the mouth of the Poltergust and landed with a small clatter on the floor. Luigi made a face, but picked it up and, before stuffing it into a pocket, wrapped it in cloth.

            The Duel Scream went off. Elvin's face appeared and he looked particularly excited. “Huzzah! You got the key back! Finally!” He paused. “You know what? I think he just wanted someone to play with. Well, he'll have plenty of playmates in the Vault. I'll bring you back now.” He typed in a few things and Luigi found himself being pulled into the Pixelator.

            He reformed in the Bunker. “Welcome back, Lys! Let's send that spectral pooch down to the Vault right away.” He pressed a button and the special machine ascended from the ground. Luigi shoved the mouth of the vacuum into it and felt as it was emptied. Then he pulled it back.

            The Poltergust shook slightly. Puzzled, he glanced into it and blanched, yanking his face away as the Polterpup leapt out of the vacuum. It bowled over Elvin, licking his face hard, before leaping over to a nearby bookshelf and vanishing through the wall. “Dammit!” Elvin scowled darkly. “Guess I'll be tightening up that containment unit,” he muttered. “Anyway, let's see that special key.”

            Luigi smirked and dropped the slobber covered key onto Elvin's lap and escaped the room swiftly. Halfway down the corridor, his name was howled and he snickered. The brunet stepped into his room and locked the door from the inside before collapsing down into a nearby chair. There was a bottle of wine on the table next to it and he opened it and poured himself some before sighing. Kaihau had looked hurt by his brush off, but he wasn't chancing it. That bastard was probably messing with him. Mario had told him time and time again that he wasn't worthy of being loved, and while Luigi didn't believe him, it still hurt. It still made him hesitate with anything of that sort. It also didn't help that he was positive Kaihau was King Boo in human form. It really didn't help that the man was fucking sexy. And he was Luigi, nobody truly loved him. They were just using him to get to Mario. After all, it had happened before.


	13. Tree Topping

            Luigi woke up the next morning beyond exhausted. He had spent most of the night before wondering about Kaihau, and how he was going to respond to the Boo king's affection. It was something that the brunet hadn't really had to deal with before. Everyone he'd ever been with or had even had a crush on, with the exception of a certain Bean prince, ended up using him to get access to Mario. His lips pursed. He was going to have to make sure that King Boo really was interested in him. And if he was, well; Luigi was going to enjoy this. A lot.

            He stepped into the kitchen and couldn't suppress the strangled noise of horror that ripped its way from his throat. Meric and Elvin were fighting, loudly. The Toad had a kitchen knife in his hand, fingers wrapped tightly around its handle. The scientist had one of Luigi's daggers and he looked ready to kill. “What the **FUCK** is going on here?” They both froze and turned to stare at him, identical looks of guilt on their faces. Luigi's eyes narrowed and they flinched slightly. His hand shot out. “Weapons.” There was a pause, long and filled with silence. Elvin and Meric glanced at each other, but did not move.

            Luigi's eyes narrowed until they were little more than slits of furious, dark blue. “ **Now.”** Instantly he had both the kitchen knife and the dagger in his hand and he vanished them in a burst of fire before pulling out the nearest chair and sinking into it. After a few moments of silence, he flipped his hand over and began examining his nails. “Now,” Luigi said icily as the other two finally sat down, “what the fuck was that about?”

            Meric jumped up and pointed an accusing finger at Elvin. “It's all his fault, Lys.”

            An eyebrow rose. “Really? Do tell.”

            “Yes.” The Toad gave his boss a dirty look. “He can't cook worth a damn, but still tries to do so anyway.”

            Elvin let out a spluttering noise and shot to his feet. “I'll have you know that I'm a fabulous cook!”

            “You burn water!”

            “Exactly. How many cooks do you know that can do that?”

            Meric said with a smirk, “Only the shitty ones.”

            “Hey!”

            Luigi snorted under his breath. “So, what did he do this time?”

            “Set the oven on fire, ruining the soufflé that I was making.” Meric's face darkened and his fingers twitched towards the remaining knives on the counter.

            Elvin had the gall to look sheepish. “Oops?” He laughed nervously and carefully inched away from the now very homicidal Toad. He jumped behind the nearest couch and peeked over. The brunet rolled his eyes.

            “Out of the kitchen. I'll cook.”

            Meric gave him a look before smiling. “My hero.”

            “I didn't know you could cook.” Elvin spoke up, ducking back down into his hiding spot when the Toad wordlessly pointed the knife in his direction.

            “I can, now out. Meric can stay and help if he so chooses.”

            “What about me?”

            “Go find something to do.”

            Elvin grumbled loudly and stalked out of the room. Meric and Luigi glanced at each other before rolling their eyes and sighing in unison. Sometimes they didn't know what to do with the scientist. And other days they did know what they wanted to do. It just wasn't legal to do it.

            Luigi rolled his eyes and pushed Meric to a nearby counter. “I need vegetables chopped up. We're having omelets. The Toad grinned.

            “My favorite.”

            “Good.”

            oOo

            Twenty minutes after they had all eaten, Luigi was dressed and ready to enter the Hollow Tree and take on the Possessor Ghost for another piece of the Dark Moon. Elvin spun around in his chair and laughed gleefully. “Lys, it's time to open that creepy door and see what's behind it! Aren't you excited?”

            Luigi grinned widely. “Definitely. I'm going to set that fucker on fire.”

            Elvin ignored him with the ease of much practice. “Thanks to my recent analysis of the Dark Moon pieces, the Parascope had become much more accurate.” He spun around and began typing on the nearby keyboard. Luigi pulled out his Duel Scream and noted that the Tree House was highlighted. “The piece we're looking for is located in the Tree House at the very top of the big tree. We were on the right track after all!”

            Luigi gave him a look. “You mean I was on the right track.”

            Elvin sighed. “Yes, Lys. You were right. It wasn't in the tree, but at the top.” He reached under his chair and pulled out the key Luigi had tracked down. “And here's the special key. It wasn't tough to fix, just slobbering wet. Damn mutt.” He smacked the red button on the side of his chair and Luigi rolled his eyes as the Pixelator activated.

            He landed silently on his feet at the top of the stairs in the Hollow Tree. In front of him was the creepy door and he slipped the special key into the hole in the 'nose'. He twisted it and watched as the jaws opened to let him inside. Once he was through, it snapped shut again and he scowled. Elvin would have to pixelate him out again, seeing as he wasn't going to be able to go back through that door. He glanced at the ground in front of him and whimpered.

            It was endless, staircase after staircase after staircase. A set of three right next to each other followed by many more sets of the same. He swallowed. Only one of the three would safely take him to the next set of stairs. The others would probably send him sliding all the way back to the bottom. He whimpered and pressed a finger against his stomach. Hopefully he wouldn't break anything. A single step forward and he reacted instantly. The Possessor Ghost burst out of the ground and he fireballed it in the face. It screamed and raced up the staircases, vanishing into the darkness above.

            Left, Middle, or Right. One of these three staircases was the correct one. Luigi rubbed his fingers on the bridge of his nose and tried not to sigh. At this rate he was going to spend hours on this, and he wasn't very keen on having to start over again. That had happened once already. He glanced down at the fifteen flights of staircases that were below him before glancing up at the remaining fifteen and sighing loudly. So far he'd been lucky, only having to start over once.

            Left.

            Middle.

            Left.

            Right.

            Right.

            Right.

            Right.

            Right.

            Middle.

            Right.

            Luigi paused. Staring at the last two sets of three staircases. He didn't know what the correct path through these last two barriers was and he scowled darkly. Time to make a random, educated, hopefully correct guess.

            Left. Halfway up them, the small flight of stairs shivered and Luigi whimpered. Incorrect. A Greenie leapt out of the stairs as they turned into a slide underneath him and he slipped, falling down and beginning to slide all the way to the bottom of the many flights of stair. Once he reached the bottom, and the Greenie disappeared, he didn't even try to get up, instead choosing to lay there on the floor for a while. That had hurt. A lot, and he rubbed his side gently.

            Pain was something that he had gotten used to. Whether it be heartbreak, emotional, or actually physical, he knew it existed and he'd had it happen a lot to him. But that, sliding backwards down many flights of stairs, that had been one of the most painful things that had happened to him in quite a while. Aside from the Spider Incident, that is. Blue eyes darkened with fury causing the Greenie hiding nearby to squeak.

            He was **so** going to get the Possessor for that dirty trick. Pulling himself back to his feet, he fireballed the Greenie until it faded away and marched back up the stairs towards the top. Once at the place where he had slipped, he glared at it darkly.

            Middle.

            Left.

            And with that, he was at the top. Luigi let out a sigh of relief and carefully walked towards the door that was near him and stepped through it. A small curving path led up to a trapdoor rope and he pulled it down, revealing the stairs that he climbed to reach the Tree House.

            Carefully the brunet pulled himself through the hole and stepped forward, glancing around before he stopped and rubbed his eyes. 

            Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't _this._

            Luigi stared. In an attempt to kill him, the Possessor Ghost, of all things, had taken control of a set of deck stairs. _Wooden_ deck stairs. His lips twisted back, a smirk crawling onto his face. The possessed deck stairs shivered slightly, recoiling each time his smile widened. Eventually it was practically splitting his face, tearing little cracks in his skin. He held up his hand, a fireball springing to life instantly. If ghosts could blanch, this one would, and it launched itself out of the stairs seconds before they went up in flames. The two horned ghost hissed loudly at him and the brunet snickered.

            “Really? _Wooden_ deck stairs? That was a bad idea.” It scowled and made a vague gesture that could have been a pair of middle fingers. “Wow,” Luigi muttered. “How rude.”

            He then paused and pinned the spirit with a look. “Have you seen Kaihau anywhere?” There was a titter of confusion, a lost look and sighed. “King Boo?”

            A light of recognition. The spirit nodded before pointing at a different section of the valley. Luigi felt his heart sink even further and he sighed. “Damn. I wanted to talk to him.” He then glanced at the spirit, and the shard of purple stone in its chest. “Any chance you'll just hand over the Dark Moon piece without a fight?”

            A large shield formed around the Possessor and it lunged at him, slamming into where he had been standing seconds before. “I'll take that as a no.” Multiple small fireballs formed in the air around him and they launched themselves simultaneously at the spirit. It skidded to the left, dodging most of them and proceeded to float smugly over the rest. Luigi rolled his eyes. “Showoff.” It snickered and launched a second attack, bolts of lightning racing forward. He rolled under them and nailed the Harsh Possessor in the face with a series of small quick fireballs. It snarled and recoiled, giving him enough time to suck off the first layer of protective skin. The Possessor wiggled out, color changing from white to orange, and shot up into the air, just out of Luigi's range. He scowled and watched as the ghost began to draw in power, forming a shadowy ball between its hands.  

            A quick jump to the left avoided the attack and he ducked the spirit as it attempted to slam into him. A flash of the Strobe-light confused it just enough for him to suck off the second layer of skin. It snarled loudly at him, orange becoming a shade of dark red, almost the color of blood. Luigi rolled his eyes and stepped out of the way of its third attempt at slamming into him. It was sucked into the Poltergust quickly, and the Dark Moon piece landed with a clatter on the nearby floor.

            His Duel Scream went off shortly after the Possessor Ghost had been sucked into the Poltergust. Luigi padded over to where the piece of the Dark Moon was sitting on the ground and picked it up before opening the DS. Elvin looked particularly amused. “A set of _wooden_ deck stairs. What _was_ that spirit thinking?”

            Luigi grinned widely. “It probably wasn't thinking at all.” He then sighed and rubbed at his newest bruises. “Can you bring me back? I had to deal with a series of booby trapped staircases and I'd really like some ice.”

            Elvin nodded and pressed a few buttons. “I'll have ice ready for you when you return.”

            oOo

            Luigi landed silently on the floor of the Bunker and winced. Elvin was waiting for him in his chair, ice pack in hand. “You know, I don't think it's a coincidence that both of the Possessors we've seen had Dark Moon pieces in them. Speaking of which, trade. Shard for the ice.”

            “Done,” the brunet grunted, shoving the purple gem piece into the scientist's hands. Elvin made an affronted noise and rolled his eyes. Luigi just dropped his Poltergust on the floor and disappeared down the hall. He was exhausted and he had ice to put on his bruises. Not to mention the fact that Kaihau was clearly avoiding him. Damn.

            _Why does this shit always have to happen to me?_


	14. C-1: A Timely Entrance

            Two days later, Luigi stepped into the kitchen and stopped short. Elvin was sitting at the table, but he had been duct taped to the chair and a gag had been stuffed into his mouth. Meric was at the stove, humming cheerfully as he cooked. The scientist gave him a pitiful look along with a muffled cry for help. “Alright,” the brunet began, “what the hell did he do this time?”

            Meric turned away from where he was chopping celery and sniffed daintily. “He attempted to cook.”

            “And?”

            “Burned three pans, caught the oven on fire, and set off all the nearby fire alarms.” The Toad huffed sharply and shook the knife at his boss. “He will remain tied up until breakfast is served.”

            Luigi snorted and helped himself to the coffee, reaching around Meric to steal a stalk of celery as he walked over to a chair. The red spotted Toad rolled his eyes but didn't protest.

            Elvin, who by this point had managed to spit out the gag, scowled. “Stop teaming up on me!” he wailed before sniffing daintily and eyeing them carefully. “How come you two get along so well?” He gave Meric a baleful glare. “You never get along so well with me....”

            “It's 'cause Lys isn't an idiot. Plus he can cook.”

            “Did I mention that I can make Tiramisu?”

            Meric dropped his knife onto the counter and launched himself over the table at Luigi. “Marry me!” The brunet laughed and ducked out of his chair, avoiding the Toad entirely.

            “Sorry, not interested.”

            Elvin smirked. “I know who his type is~,” he singsonged gleefully, lips bared in a frightening smile. “A certain white haired male with violet eyes and a crown~.”

            Luigi let out a rather feminine shriek and hurled a fireball at the scientist. Elvin shifted enough to the side so that the flames melted the duct tape and easily snapped what remained. “In any case,” the brunet muttered as he sank into a chair and dropped his head into his hands, “I'm pretty sure he's King Boo in human form.”

            There was silence from both Meric and Elvin as the two of them slowly glanced at the other. “Oh,” the Toad eventually said. “Is he nice?”

            The other two stared at him before Luigi snorted softly. “Only you, Meric. Only you.”

            He huffed at them and went back to cooking. “Well, excuse me for being curious.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “I'm fairly certain that Elvin has a photograph on his computer.” His gaze switched to the scientist. “Go get it. Might as well show you why I'm so irritated about this.”

            “Sure. Whatever. _Yes, mother,_ ” Elvin muttered as he haughtily stalked over to his computer, ignoring the muffled snickers coming from behind. A few taps of the keys was all it took and a picture of Kaihau appeared on the screen. Meric glanced up, set his knife down, and drew in a sharp breath.

            “Oh my. Well, now. Don't you have wonderful taste, darling,” he cooed, reaching over to pinch at Luigi's ass.

            The brunet let out a hiss and dodged to the side, shifting his eyes to Elvin. “Alright. Enough of this. Where am I going next?”

            Elvin laughed softly and pressed another button. A picture of what looked like an abandoned warehouse with a clock tower on it appeared. “You see that, Lys? That's where the next Dark Moon piece is. The Old Clockworks!”

            Luigi scowled. “Definitely not as cool looking as the Haunted Towers. It looks like it's going to be infested with ghosts.”

            Elvin rolled his eyes. “Before it was abandoned, this place once produced the finest timepieces ever made. But years of neglect have turned it into a favorite haunt for ghosts.”

            “I knew it. I absolutely fucking knew it.” The brunet surged to his feet. “Excuse me while I go get Ghost Spray.”

            Meric snorted. “Ghost Spray.”

            “Yeah, it's like Bug Spray, but for ghosts. I'm fairly certain that I'll be needing it.”

            A vein above Elvin's eye twitched. “Can I _please_ finish talking here?”

            “Yeah, sure, Elvin, whatever you say.”

            Elvin scowled darkly, but continued speaking. “I honestly wasn't surprised when the Parascope detected a Dark Moon piece inside the Old Clockworks. And after turning the Parascope a little more, I was actually able to pinpoint its precise location: the top of the Clock Tower.”

            Luigi let out a huff of air. “Who wants to bet that I'll be finding another Possessor Ghost there?”

            “No way, that's a sucker's bet.” Meric shook his head and took a step back.

            The brunet's lips peeled back. “I'm kind of hoping that I run into Kaihau. I owe that bastard a smack across the face for avoiding me.”

            Meric made an amused noise. “Weren't you the one who avoided him first?” He ducked a fireball and cackled gleefully.

            Elvin sighed, but didn't comment. He began typing on the keyboard and a different picture popped up on screen. “Now, you see this fancy-looking door? That's the Clock Tower Gate.”

            “And I'm probably going to have to hunt down the pieces for it. Those damn Possessor Ghosts are rather intelligent. They've most likely taken it apart so I can't get through.”

            “I wouldn't be surprised,” Elvin said. “So you'll just have to be ready for it.”

            Luigi just smiled and held up a hand that was brimming in fire. “Oh,” he purred out, blue eyes glowing in the light of the flames, “I think I'll do juuuust fiiiiine~.”

            “In order to climb the Clock Tower, you'll have to get through that gate. I've highlighted it on your map. Good luck, and don't kill anything.” The last thing Luigi saw before Elvin hit the button for the Pixelator was Meric waving goodbye, a rather evil gleam in his eyes.

 

* * *

 

            He landed gracefully on the ground and sighed as his bare feet sunk ankle deep into a pile of sand. “You forgot to give me my stuff.” There was the sound of items hitting the ground, accompanied by puffs of sand and dust from the impact. Luigi pulled everything on and scowled. Again, for the third fucking time, Elvin hadn't given him a shirt. He was _so_ going to murder him.

            Maybe.

            Assuming Meric didn't commit homicide first.

            He glanced around at the sand and noted a nearby telescope. “What the....” Luigi cautiously padded over to it and bent down enough to peer through it. It had been aimed at the top of the Clock Tower, and he watched silently. Nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds and he was just about to walk away when the Possessor Ghost poked its head out of one of the clock faces. His eyes narrowed as he counted the number of horns on the ghost's head. Three. Great. One more than last time. Hopefully this one wouldn't try to kill him with anything made of wood.

            The ghost let out a cackle of laughter ducked back inside for a few seconds before slipping out of the clock face and floating in the air. It swerved around the tower, rising higher with each go until it finally vanished back inside via the Clock Tower's roof. It didn't seem to have spotted him, but Luigi knew that he would be discovered soon. That was only if he hadn't already been found, though. He backed away from the telescope with a low hissing noise, mind deep in thought. Pulling out a small flask of wine, he took a sip and closed his eyes. “Here's to shit going down.” A low smirk crawled across his face. “And possibly running into Kaihau. I owe him a punch. Along with a kiss.”

            He began cackling as he ducked under the striped railroad barrier and padded across the sand, snatching up all the hidden money he could find. Luigi paused when he stood in front of a weird clock like barrier. The time on it was off, and he reached up to yank the hands into position. “Three thirty,” he muttered as he shoved the minute hand into place only to leap back when the thing began to chime loudly. “Shit. Well, there goes any hope of me sneaking in.” The clock rattled up on noisy hinges revealing the door and he stepped into the abandoned Clockworks.

            Inside was a large room that had two levels. In front of him was a Greenie and it was playing with some sort of unwrapping machine. Then it spotted him and promptly bolted out of the room. It was no doubt going to warn the Possessor Ghost. And possibly even Kaihau. Luigi swallowed and tried not to scream. He wasn't sure how he was going to deal with the Boo king, but over thinking the situation wasn't going to help the matter much. He paused and stared at the wrapped parcels. One of them had the key to the locked door, he was sure of that. And now that he thought about it, there was a safe at the end of the room..... A quick flash of the Strobe-light forced it open and Luigi reached in to grab the yellow parcel. Placing it onto the weird machine, he grabbed an end and yanked. It came apart in his hands and revealed the key that was needed for the locked door.

            He picked it up and traipsed across the room before sticking it into the lock and turning it. The door led to the Workshop where two Greenies were working on one of the exploding robots. Luigi's lips twisted up into a smirk. He smelled disaster! Carefully charging up the Strobe-light, he moved into position and flashed the light sensitive panel on the front of the robot. It burst into life, alarm going off seconds before it went off. The Greenies panicked, rearing up just as the bomb exploded. Luigi lunged forward, catching them by surprise and sucking them into the Poltergust. Instantly the room brightened and he glanced around before cleaning it of cash.

            The Clock Tower Gate was dark and he noted that the sand on the floor was deep enough for a Greenie to cause problems. Luigi's lips thinned as he noticed that the Gate itself was missing both the minute hand and the hour hand, along with a very important gear. He sighed and inspected it carefully, taking note of the little bits of ectoplasm that had been left behind. Definitely the work of the Possessor Ghost. Another sigh and the brunet began nibbling on his bottom lip. _Just fucking great_. He rolled his eyes just as the Duel Scream went off. Elvin's face appeared in the screen and he looked annoyed.

            “Great. That's just fabulous. Not.” He gave Luigi a look. “Well, when you're right, you're _right_. Dammit, the clock hands are missing! Stupid ghosts, I hate how clever they can be. You see, the clock hands operate the Clock Tower Gate. Without them, you can't get in. It seems like the ghosts figured it out and hid them from us. Incredible! Well, not for us, of course. For us it's actually pretty terrible. It would take an incredibly strong ghost to pry off those clock hands. Nothing like the pinwheel gate in the Haunted Towers.” Elvin paused and sighed. “You might have quite the fight on your hands, Lys.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “Good, I've been itching for a fight.”

            “Yeah, yeah. I'll scan the area for any powerful paranormal signals.” He hummed thoughtfully. “There is an extensive set of underground tunnels underneath this factory. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up down there.” Elvin gave Luigi a smirk. “Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if we ran into Kaihau down there.”

            The brunet shook his head. “I don't think so. We're avoiding each other right now. At most we'll probably see him in security images and the like. Never face to face.”

            “You two are awful. Perfect matches and you're ignoring it.”

            “You know exactly why I have issues with romance, Elvin, so shut the fuck up and tell me what I have to do next.”

            “Hold tight, I'll scan the area and let you know if I find something, okay?”

            “Yeah, yeah, whatever. See you later, Elvin.” Luigi closed the DS and slipped it back into its pocket. He sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair and stepped into the foot deep sand that covered the floor. He didn't really sink into it, so much as glided over the surface.

            Movement in the shadows caught his eye and the brunet groaned under his breath as the room suddenly grew darker. “Just what I needed,” Luigi muttered under his breath as he caught sight of the small twisters that slithered over the sand. He couldn't fireball these, they would just become great tornadoes of flame, and that was _not_ something that he wanted to deal with. Instead he reversed the suction on the Poltergust, making it so that the vacuum blew out air, and watched with amusement as the three Greenies were forced to abandon their tornadoes. They shook their heads, dizzy beyond belief, and it gave Luigi enough time to stun them all and suck them into the Poltergust. A key popped out the moment the last one was in, and he stalked over to pick it up. It was slipped into a hidden pocket and the brunet looked around with a sigh.

            The door at the other side of the Clock Tower Gate was locked and he smoothly unlocked it, completely ignoring the way the key dissolved into nothing. By this point, he was so used to the ghost's bullshit that it took great effort to surprise him. Those that did surprise him usually ended up with a massive fireball to the face. Luigi slid the door open just enough so that he could slink through and glanced around at the room. His Duel Scream said that it was the Cargo Room and he sighed. Dark. Probably filled to the brim with annoyances. There was a huge indentation in the center of the room and he grumbled under his breath. It was deep enough that he wouldn't be able to reach the other side. He leapt down and landed silently, twitching with the DS went off. He gave it a fowl look and flipped the damn thing open. Elvin's smirking face filled the screen and the brunet was half tempted to slam it shut. “What do _you_ want?” Luigi practically ground out.

            “Well,” the scientist began, “I think I've found our clock thieves. There's a strong signal underground, and I believe it's them. According to my research, there's a special compass that should help you get down there.” His face vanished and an image of the compass appeared. Luigi scowled. The thing was familiar in some way, but he couldn't figure out why.

            “Alright, where is it?”

            “That's the thing. It's farther in, likely stored somewhere in the Drafting Office. That's on the second floor. I've marked your map. Good luck.” He waved cheerfully and vanished. Luigi snapped the DS shut and shoved it in a pocket, eyeing the bomb stuck on the wall as he moved. It seemed to be holding back a massive amount of sand and he wondered if it would be enough to fill up the crater in the room. Well, there wasn't a reason not to try and he charged up the Strobe-light. A quick flash and the bomb began to whine, exploding a few seconds later. Sand began to pour into the room and Luigi stepped back to safety. Amusingly enough, it fill the crater up to the brim and the brunet carefully began making his way across. An open hole in the wall revealed a yellow spotted Toad balancing precariously on the flimsy railing, trying to reach a gold bar. Two Boos glided through the wall and watched with glee as the small male teetered and lost his balance, falling into the darkness below. They cackled loudly and followed the Toad down, and Luigi _knew_ he would be rescuing the male from a painting later on. _Damn,_ he thought. _Damn, double damn, and triple damn. More babysitting._

He turned around and eyed the staircase that led to the second floor. It was attached to the ceiling and a pull cord was hanging down. He yanked on the thing, probably a lot harsher than he should have, but the brunet was long since past caring. The stairs came down with an earth rattling **'thud'** and Luigi carefully began making his way up them. Halfway up, a Greenie burst out of the stairs with a shriek. Luigi yelped loudly and reared back, a fireball instantly springing to life in his hands. The Greenie learned a nasty lesson, fireballed out of existence, and Luigi tumbled down the staircase. He laid there at the bottom for a few seconds, dazed and slightly sore, before shaking his head and pulling himself to his feet.

            A few other Greenies had appeared during his stunned moments and were now making their way towards Luigi in the form of sand tornadoes. He waited till they had left the sand and stunned both of them, sucking them into the Poltergust with ease. The lights didn't come on. Luigi stiffened as the sand bulged awkwardly and the chuckle of a Slammer echoed throughout the room. _Great. Just f-ing great._

He leapt backwards just as the red ghost exploded out of the sand and nailed it directly in the face with the Strobe-light. It reared back with a roar and swung at him, fists clenched. Luigi ducked under its arms and caught the being's 'tail' with the Poltergust. It struggled, but in the end it was sucked into the vacuum with a popping noise. The room instantly brightened and the brunet breathed a sigh of relief as he headed back up the staircase. The door at the top was unlocked and Luigi stepped through it, finding himself back in the Clock Tower Gate. Several parts of the cat walk were missing and he revealed them with the Dark-light Device, humming cheerfully and sucking up spiders as he went. At the other end of the cat walk was the door to the Drafting room and Luigi huffed out a soft breath. There was no possible way for that room to be ghost-free. It was going to be infested with the damn things.

            He opened the door and slipped into the room. A flash of pink told him exactly what was hiding in there and Luigi swore under his breath. Sneakers. Three of them to be exact. One was bad enough, but three at the same time? Not to mention the Greenie on the stupid chair. The brunet swore that he was going to _murder_ Kaihau for starting this whole mess. Either that or have wonderful, mind blowing sex. He aimed the Poltergust at the ceiling fan and spun it wildly, watching as the false section of wall moved back. He darted forward once there was enough room, ducked under a Sneaker's attack, and watched as the four ghosts slid through the wall. The Seekers chattered at him, the Greenie did a flip, and he smirked, catching all four with the Strobe-light and sucking them into the vacuum before they could even move. “Gotcha,” Luigi purred out and glanced at the desk at the end of the room. The special compass had to be there and he marched over and began pulling open drawers. In the top left one, he found it and hid it away in a pocket on his trench coat. Seconds later, the Duel Scream went off.

            “There! That's the special compass.”

            “No shit, genius,” Luigi muttered. “I kind of figured that one out when it matched the picture you showed me earlier.”

            Elvin rolled his eyes. “I'll bring you back so I can look at it.” He vanished from the screen and Luigi put it away, feeling the familiar pull of the Pixelator. He landed smoothly in the Bunker and gave the scientist a smirk. The man sighed softly and said, “Welcome back, Lys. I can't believe I thought that getting this piece of the Dark Moon would be a breeze. I should have _known_ that those damn ghosts wouldn't make it easy. Speaking of ghosts, let's unload the Poltergust 5000.”

            Luigi gave him a look. “You do it. I need a shower. I just spent half an hour wading through knee deep sand. I'll set the compass on the side table.” He dropped the vacuum on the floor and the compass on the table before disappearing from the room.

            A few minutes later Elvin could hear the shower start and he picked up the Poltergust with a sigh. Meric poked his head out of the kitchen and snorted softly. “He really needs to get laid, doesn't he?”

            Elvin rolled his eyes. “Yes, he does. But we're not going to say that to Lys' face, are we?”

            The Toad shook his head. “Do you really think I'm that stupid? He'd flambé me and have roasted mushroom for dinner. That reminds me, do you think Ican's alright? He does have that massive phobia of clocks.”

            Luigi stepped back into the room, drying his shoulder length hair with a towel. He was wearing his leather trousers and nothing else. “Ican? Is he a yellow spotted Toad?”

            Meric's face brightened. “Yes! Have you seen him?”

            The brunet winced slightly. “Last I saw him, he was falling into a pit with two Boos following behind. My guess is I'll be rescuing him from a painting. And playing babysitter. Again. And for the love of all that is sane, Elvin, why do you have a clock fearing Toad in the Old Clockworks?”

            Elvin shrugged. “I didn't know he had a fear of clocks until he was actually in the place.”

            Luigi sighed and sank down into the chair. He snorted softly. “What next?”

            “Well......”


	15. C-2: Underground Expedition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to me! Have two chapters as a way of celebrating!

(From left to right, the five Toads: Meric, Nita, Denzel, Zexus, and Ican.)

 

* * *

 

            “The special compass revealed an alternate entrance to the underground labyrinth.”

            Luigi snorted and watched as the scientist picked up his cup of tea. “Labyrinth, huh? Should I watch out for Goblin Kings?”

            Elvin spat out what was in his mouth and collapsed into a wheezing fit of laughter. “No,” he choked out, “but I would watch out for ghosts.” He sat up and snickered softly. “The normal access to the underground may be blocked, but there's an exterior hatch located in the Clockworks Court. And get this,” he spun around, pulled out the compass, and handed it over to Luigi, “the special compass opens it.”

            Luigi slipped the thing into a pocket and rolled his neck, feeling it pop.

            The scientist winced slightly. “Now, let's talk about the missing parts of the Clock Tower Gate.” He pushed a button and a screen slid from the ceiling, showing both hands and what looked like a gear. “We're looking for the clock hands. You know, the things that tell you when it's bedtime?”

            “Ha ha ha. You're a riot, Gadd,” Luigi muttered. From where he was listening in, Meric snorted.

            Elvin huffed. “Charlatans. You just don't appreciate my work. Knowing the damn ghosts, they probably took the clock hands as deep underground as possible.”

            “How much do you want to bet that the mutt has one of the hands?” Meric called from the kitchen.

            Luigi glanced at Elvin and both men winced. “Absolutely nothing,” Luigi called back.

            “Just,” Elvin sighed out, “don't get lost, okay? I don't have many cameras down there.” He tapped a few things into the keyboard and the Pixelator activated without a sound.

**oOo**

            Luigi landed noiselessly in the Clockworks Court and ducked under the nearby railroad crossing gate. He glanced down at the map on his Duel Scream and followed it around to a small area on the other side. Sticking out of the mound of sand was a small knob and he brought out the compass. The diamond shaped indentation on the back matched perfectly and Luigi placed the compass down and spun it. There was a rumble, the ground shook slightly and the sand vibrated itself off of a set of steel doors. Luigi stepped curiously onto them and reached down to knock on them. They shifted and he leapt backwards seconds before they opened. He glanced into the hole and dropped in a small ball of fire. It was deep, but not too deep and the brunet sighed. Taking a deep breath, Luigi swallowed nervously and jumped.

            He landed gracefully and skidded forward down the slide, ending in a room that his Duel Scream said was the Storm Cellar. There was a bed at one end and a weighted platform that was connected to the gate blocking the door. Luigi huffed softly and sent a massive blast of fire at the floating rock. The Greenie holding it vanished and he picked it up and dropped it onto the platform. As the small lift was pulled downwards, the gate blocking the door rose up. He smirked and ignored the second Greenie that was still hiding underneath the bed. It hadn't attacked him, so he wasn't going to bother it. Maybe.

            The door lead to a long, dark hallway. His map said it was Canyon Hall and the brunet sighed. At the end was a cloth covered door and he yanked away the fabric and stepped through the opening. The Canyon Narrows contained two broken bridges and hang lines that Luigi was forced to use. He darted forward and grabbed onto the rope, his weight swinging himself forward and over the ravine. Landing silently on the other side, he moved down to the second broken bridge and did the same thing, swinging across the open pit. _Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look– Dammit._

Luigi stumbled when he landed and pressed himself against the wall. Safety. He slipped through the opening that led back to the Canyon Hall and continued forward, spinning around and fireballing the Sneaker that appeared behind him. It went down with little fanfare and the brunet glanced at the two passages in front of him. The one on the right led to the Canyon Stairs and he opened the door. At the top of the staircase was a large amount of debris with a small bomb lodged in the center. A quick flash of the Strobe-light and it went off, clearing off the staircase with ease. Luigi glanced down at the DS as it went off and Elvin's face appeared. He was smiling. “Well done. You've unblocked the original entrance from the other side. Now you can get down here whenever you want and, once the ghosts are cleared, I can explore the underground myself. But for now, continue forward and find those damn clock hands.” He gave the brunet another smile and closed the connection.

            “Alright,” Luigi muttered. “I'll get right on it.” He turned around and headed for the other door at the end of the Canyon Hall. It lead to the Roundhouse Pit and he noticed a sarcophagus standing all the way to the right. Curious, and completely forgetting all of his experience with such things, Luigi opened it and was promptly sucked in. The door closed behind him and the brunet was startled to find that he could see out. Seconds later, a Boo and a Hider swept into the room. The Hider was carrying a enormous bomb and it was placed in a nearby barrel. Then the blue spirit disappeared into another barrel. Spirit Balls materialized and the Boo hid the two remaining barrels with a cackle before vanishing through the floor.

            The sarcophagus opened and Luigi tumbled to the floor with a soft curse. He leapt to his feet and immediately trained the Dark-light Device on the barrel that held the Hider. It was revealed with a soft pulse of light and the Hider flew out, only to meet a fireball head on and be sucked into the Poltergust. Luigi smirked as the room brightened considerably and he turned his gaze to the cracked wall in the center of the room. A few fireballs combined with a jump kick was all it took to send the thing crashing down and the brunet stepped through the newly formed hole just as the Duel Scream went off. It was filled with static and Elvin could barely be heard. “L-s? Can yo- hear me? You must be v-ry deep undergr--nd. Loo- at that tunn-l. It seems the O-d Clockw--ks was built d-rectly above an anci-nt archeologi-al site. Be car-ful, okay? Who knows what th-ngs you'll find down th-re. Let's hope the clo-k hands are am--g them!” The screen let out a low, static filled whine and went blank. Luigi sighed and closed the DS and slipped it into a pocket as he turned around and stared at the door to the tunnel.

            Opening it carefully, Luigi stepped through to the Pit Slide. The moment the door closed behind him there was a rumble, then a loud crash shook the ground. He swore loudly and immediately poked his head through the door, only to find that a large series of rocks had fallen to the ground. There was no going back _that_ way. Not anymore. He pulled his head back and closed the door and turned to stare at the slide for a long time. Eventually Luigi sighed and just decided to go for it. He leapt forward and skidded, gliding down the steep slope, desperately waving his arms in an attempt to keep his balance. He managed, for the most part, and promptly collapsed into a tangle of limbs at the bottom of the slide. Luigi stumbled to his feet, pushed his hair out of his face and decided that he was going to invest in some hair ties. He glanced at the door and sniffed daintily. No doubt it led to a nasty, dark area.

            He threw it open and stormed in, pausing once on the other side. A glance at his map said that this was the Quarry. Luigi looked up and sighed at the sight of the other door. It was just out of his reach. He turned his gaze to the path and began making his way to the bottom, sucking up all the spiders he saw. At the bottom was a steady stream of sand falling into a deep hole and a nearby mine cart. Luigi smirked and yanked the cart over to block the hole. Sand began to quickly fill up the room and the brunet jumped backwards when five Greenies appeared, three of them holding shovels. The two without weapons were easy to stun and dispose of, but the others were trickier. They covered each other’s backs smoothly and after nearly fifteen minutes of trying to catch them, Luigi gave in and began launching fireballs. The wooden handled shovels lit up quickly and the three ghosts dropped their burning weapons and glanced at each other before fleeing the room. The brunet let out of a huff of annoyance that was quickly changed to a groan when several Sneakers appeared. They cackled gleefully and vanished and Luigi was relieved to see that they left a trail behind in the sand.

            Luigi darted around, charged up the Strobe-light and released it when all three were in range. They materialized instantly, protesting loudly, and fighting every inch of the way. In the end, the Poltergust was stronger, and all of the Sneakers were sucked inside. The room brightened and when the sand reached its max point, it stopped, leaving a clear path to the next door.

            Again, the brunet opened it warily, and sighed when he saw the long, dark corridor. He rose a hand and concentrated, a much larger orb of fire springing to life. It lit the surrounding area around him and Luigi let out a louder sigh when he caught sight of the humongous spiderwebs that blocked the passage. Giant, humongous, flammable spiderwebs. The damn things went up easily, and he hummed happily as he strode down the hall, collecting treasure as he went.

            At the end was a lit room, treasure lying scattered here and there, and a large stone box in the center. Luigi recognized it for what it was, a tomb. A glance at his map said he was correct. But the stone box in the center, even though every instinct said _not_ to open it, was intriguing and the brunet couldn't resist. He crept forward, carefully, cautiously, and slowly pushed the lid open with one hand, the other holding a fireball.

            He waited.

            And waited.

            And waited.

            Nothing.

            Eventually he doused the fireball and carefully peeked into the box, only to scream and rear backwards when a ginormous ghost popped out. It was huge, blue, had an enormous brain that was a darker shade than its body, and was holding one of the clock hands. Luigi stumbled over his feet in his haste to retreat and sent several massive fireballs at the ghost. The poltergeist smacked them away with the clock hand and cackled gleefully before doing a flip mid-air and vanishing from the area.

            The brunet just laid there on the ground in the suddenly quiet room, his heaving breath the only sound to be heard. Slowly he pulled himself to his feet and shakily made his way to the entrance to the tomb, determined to find a way out. Behind him was a noise and he turned around just in time to watch three mummies pull themselves out of the ground. It was rather terrifying and he backed himself against the nearest wall.

            At least, it was terrifying until Luigi noted that the fabric they were wrapped in was easy to burn. He wasted no time in setting them aflame and snorted softly when the mummies were revealed to be Greenies on stilts. They were systematically stunned and sucked into the Poltergust. The room fell silent and again, his breathing was the only sound, when the DS went off. Luigi licked his dry lips and answered. “Yes?”

            “L-s! Are you ok-y? Did yo- see that big-hea-ed ghost? He ran off wi-- the clock hands we're look--g for! We need to track h-- down. I'll pix--ate you back so we c-n regroup.” The screen went blank and Luigi closed his eyes as the familiar feeling washed over him.

**oOo**

            He landed silently in the Bunker and ran a hand through his hair. Elvin gave him a look. “Good job down there,” he finally said.

            “Except for the jump scare,” Luigi muttered. “I think my heart just about stopped.”

            “Are you kidding me?” Elvin asked. “That was hilarious.” His laughter faded away when he saw the look he was getting and the scientist winced. “Okay, sorry. But the Greenies pretending to be mummies was funny as all hell.”

            Luigi's lips quirked up. “That _was_ amusing. Especially when I set them on fire.” He sighed and sank down into a nearby chair, thanking Meric when he was given a mug of something.

            “Here,” the Toad said, “you look like you need it. It's tea spiked with a little whiskey.”

            Elvin pouted. “You never do that for me,” he whined.

            Meric gave him a flat look. “You're not doing any of the work clearing out the ghosts, nor are you suffering from a shitty love life at the same time. Suck it up and get your own damn drink.”

            The scientist had nothing to say in reply and Luigi hummed softly as he sipped at his drink. “Still,” Elvin sighed out, “that big-headed Poltergeist – the one that took the clock hands – could be a problem. The Parascope went crazy when he appeared, so he must be very powerful. On the bright side, that ridiculous power will allow me to track him down. While I scan the Old Clockworks, why don't you take a break? You can challenge the bastard later.” He fell silent and spun around, his hands fluttering over his keyboard.

            For a long time, there was nothing but the sound of typing.


	16. C-3: Roundhouse Brawl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to me! Have an extra chapter to celebrate!

(From left to right: Luigi (Lys), King Boo (Kaihau), Princess Peach, and Prince Peasley. Elvin hasn't appeared....yet.)

 

* * *

 

            Luigi snorted softly and watched as Elvin fluttered around the room. “You look ridiculous,” he eventually said, earning himself a fowl glare.

            The scientist scowled. “It took a while, but the Parascope was able to find that Poltergeist that took the clock hands. Its signal is different than other ghosts. I suspect that we may be dealing with an Ancient Poltergeist.”

            “Oooh,” Luigi purred out, blue eyes gleaming. “That explains why it shrugged off my fire as if they were nothing. Guess I'll have to make them stronger.”

            Elvin rolled his eyes. “This is very exciting stuff, Lys. Capturing an ancient ghost would make for groundbreaking research. This bastard seems to have settled in the Roundhouse. Do be careful, I don't want you coming back in pieces, Lys. Ghosts tend to gain power over time, and this Poltergeist seems to be absolutely ancient.”

            “Fine. I'll be careful. See you later, Elvin.” Luigi rolled his eyes and watched as the scientist activated the Pixelator and he was sucked into the screen.

**oOo**

            He reappeared in the Warehouse and glanced around nervously. His map said that the ghost was in the next room and Luigi slunk over to the unlocked door and opened it slowly. He glanced around at the empty area and sighed softly. He was almost to the unlocked door on the other side of the area he could reach when the Duel Scream went off. Elvin looked particularly pleased. “Well done, Lys,” he said. “You made it to the Roundhouse. But…hmm…the poltergeist's signal is on the other side of the room. You'll need to find a way across that gap. If I were you, I'd try the lift in the Warehouse.” He laughed once and vanished from the screen.

            Luigi sighed, rolled his eyes, and slunk back into the Warehouse. The lift was near the door to the Clockworks Court and he stepped onto it and spun the red wheel around. A bar fell behind him and the thing vibrated once before lifting itself off of the ground and stopping when it reached the second level. Once the other bar had moved itself out of the way, the brunet stepped off and glanced around, humming softly as he walked. Blocking the door to the Clockmaker's Chambers was a massive pile of debris with a bomb wedged within. A quick flash of the Strobe-light activated it and it went off moments later, leaving the walkway clear. Inside, the Clockmaker's Chambers were dark and there was a Greenie sleeping on the beg with a bucket covering its face. Luigi laughed softly and moved on. He wasn't so cruel as to disturb the spirit's rest.

            The second floor of the Roundhouse was little more than thin, iron bridges that he would have to traverse to reach the other side. On the floor below him, far out of the range of his fireballs, was the damn Poltergeist. It had one of the clock hands and was using it like a conductor would a baton, the bricks floating through the air in whatever pattern the spirit desired. Luigi ground his teeth together and grabbed the Duel Scream before its tone could alert the ghost. Elvin appeared on the screen, his gray eyes glinting dangerously. “There that bastard is, Lys. Just out of our reach. And the only way to get to him is the stairs on the other side of the room. Good luck and don't fall. And while you're at it, fireball him in the face for me, will you?”

            A dark smirk crossed over Luigi's face and he nodded and put away the Duel Scream, then turned his gaze to the thin beams. He edged down them carefully, leaping across the gap and then back, pressing himself against the wall when he reached the other side. “Fucking ghost. I'm gonna fireball it good.” There was a half open door at the end of the balcony and the brunet was not surprised when it slammed shut on him. He stomped over to it and threw it open, sending a roar of flames down the Transportation Hall. Then he noticed the Boo hanging a picture of a key all the way at the end before the spirit vanished through a wall. That… was going to be needed. The floor that led to it, however, was a treadmill and there was no possible way for the brunet to reach the key head on.

            There was, on the other hand, an unlocked door near him. The other one, the one that led to the Poltergeist, was locked, and probably needed the key in the portrait. Luigi huffed softly and headed for the only room he could reach, the Finishing Room. Inside it was dark and he sighed and watched as three Greenies in welding masks attacked him. However, they left their backs wide open and he capitalized on it, fireballing them viciously before sucking them into the Poltergust. The room immediately brightened and he hummed softly as he headed for the other door. Greenies in welding masks. Just when he thought the spirits couldn't be any cuter, they went and proved him wrong. Absolutely adorable, that's what they were. Except for the Poltergeists. Fuck them. They were assholes.

            Stepping back into the Transportation Room, Luigi moved down the treadmill floor until he could reach the entrance to the Container Yard. That room was dark as well and the brunet couldn't contain the snort of laughter at the sight of the giant, moving boxes. Did the Slammers, and there wasn't anything else strong enough to move the boxes, really think they were being sneaky? It also didn't help that the giant boxes were made of wood. Clearly the lesson to not use burnable objects had _not_ been learned. Luigi grinned sharply and gleefully set both moving boxes on fire. The Slammers exploded out of the containers and fled from the room, shrieking loudly, and the lights came on instantly. He glanced at the bridge puzzle and smoothly solved it, avoiding the deep piles of sand as he crossed over to the door on the other side of the room.

            Stalking quickly across the Transportation Hall, Luigi stepped into the Kiln Room and instantly began to sneeze. He clapped a hand over his nose, but it didn't help, and the brunet continued to sneeze violently. The entire room was filled with a thin, white mist. Two open pipes on each side of the room were spewing more of the damnable stuff around and he hurried over to the one all the way to the left. A few turns of the wheel and it was closed off. It just left the one on the right to deal with. But the wheel was missing, possibly invisible, and the brunet sneezed again before training the Dark-light Device on it. Spirit Balls scattered around the room and he sucked them up. The wheel materialized and he instantly turned it to the 'off' position before sucking all of the mist out of the air and taking a deep breath. Finally able to breathe properly, Luigi sneezed one last time and used the Strobe-light on the door to the kiln. It popped open and he nailed both Greenies inside with a second flash. He then strode forward, determined to escape from the room as fast as he could.

            The door led back into the Transportation Hall, but the treadmill floor was no longer under his feet. Instead Luigi had a clear path to the key. He vaulted over the gap and switched over to the Dark-light Device and pointed it at the key. It slowly removed itself from the canvas and the brunet caught it as it fell. He then turned, leapt over the gap again, and began jogging down the hall. The door all the way at the bottom, the one on his left side, lead back into the Roundhouse and Luigi unlocked it. He was definitely looking forward to ripping the ghost a new asshole. He stomped down the steps and gave the ancient spirit waiting at the bottom his middle finger.

            It gasped, reared up in the air, and looked so offended that Luigi roared with laughter. It then threw a bomb at him. “Excuse me,” Luigi snapped out as he ducked out of the way, “but that was rude.” The Ancient Poltergeist threw a second bomb at him and the brunet countered with several fireballs. For the second time, the spirit swatted them away with the clock hand. Or rather, it attempted to. But the being had made a miscalculation. It had underestimated the strength of the fire and reared back in pain when the little orbs exploded against its see-through skin. The clock hand fell to the ground when the ghost recoiled, shrieking wordlessly as it burned. Luigi grimaced, feeling somewhat guilty, and he snapped several more fireballs into existence. They shot forward and caught the spirit in the side, sending it skidding towards the edge of the floor. It barely managed to recover and floated into the air, eyeing Luigi carefully. The Ancient Poltergeist shifted to the left, then to the right, before finally launching itself forward at top speed, right into the path of the Strobe-light. A quick charge, a flash of light, and the spirit reared back, dazed beyond belief.

            Luigi wasted no time in capturing it. The moment the last of the spirit disappeared into the Poltergust, the Duel Scream went off. Elvin looked particularly pleased, like a cat who had just gotten the canary. “Well done, Lys. You caught the Ancient Poltergeist. You're going to pick up those clock hands, right?”

            The brunet walked over to the _single_ hand on the floor and winced as he picked it up. “Elvin, we have a problem. The ancient ghost only had one of the hands. The other one is missing.”

            “Son of a bitch,” the scientist muttered as he began frantically typing on his keyboard. “I'll bring you back and we can figure something out.”

**oOo**

            Elvin was practically bouncing in his chair when Luigi returned to the Bunker. “Well done! That Poltergeist's telekinetic power was not match for the Poltergust 5000! Not to mention your tremendous strength and courage, of course.”

            Luigi snorted. “You mean my anger.”

            “Of course. By the way, nice job flipping it off. It looked so scandalized when you gave it the middle finger. Never seen a ghost look quite that offended before.” He waved a hand lazily. “Gimmie the hand that you've got and I do a search for the other one. Go wash up. You smell like ghost goo, and it's making me nauseous.”

            Meric poked his head out of the kitchen. “Go take a shower, Lys. I'll have spiked hot chocolate waiting here for you when you're done.” He laughed softly at the look on the brunet's face, before Luigi spun around and stomped daintily out of the room.


	17. C-4: Play Catch

From left to right: Kaihau (who is probably going to be shoved off of the couch very soon), a murderous Luigi (Lys), a dramatic Peasley, a pissy Elvin (complete with gray hair), a creepy Meric, and an unnerved Peach (who is probably wishing Meric didn't exist).

 

* * *

 

           Elvin was in the kitchen the next morning, scowling something fierce when Luigi came in. “I was up half the night trying to track the missing hour hand down, to no avail. Nothing, nada. It's like the damn thing doesn't exist! And the Parascope is useless, seeing as it can only find paranormal objects.” He threw up his hands and uttered several curses. “The only thing I did find were some minor paranormal signals in the Clockworks Court. It's probably nothing more than a few Greenies, but the search will have to start somewhere.”

            Luigi chugged a cup of coffee and placed the mug on the counter with a snort. “Fine with me,” he said seconds before Elvin activated the Pixelator. The trip was as quick as ever, and he landed silently on the ground, only to freeze. His eyes narrowed darkly. There, near the entrance of the buildings were three Greenies playing catch with the hour hand. Happily panting away on a nearby pile of clocks was the Polterpup. A throw that sent the hour hand sailing a little too high in the air had to happen eventually and the ghostly mutt snagged it mid-air. It tossed it up and swallowed it before barking happily and leaping through the wall. The three Greenies growled, shook their fists, and chased after it. Luigi wasted no time in following, ducking underneath the railroad barrier and racing up to the entrance of the Old Clockworks. He threw the door open and glanced around the Warehouse, gaze zeroing in on the Greenie searching the room.

            It was quickly disposed of with a fireball and he followed the other two into the Workshop, pale lips thinning when the brunet noticed that it was empty. The next room was the one that held the Clock Tower Gate, and it, too, was empty. So was the Cargo Room. Luigi darted for the staircase and hurried through the nearby rooms towards the Drafting Office. He opened the door and scowled. Nothing.

            Luigi cursed softly and opened the door that lead to the second floor of the Warehouse, following the path around towards the door to the Clockmaker's Chambers. It was empty as well and the brunet could feel the grip he had on his temper slipping. Carefully crossing the beams on the second floor of the Roundhouse, he scowled darkly and stomped down the Transportation Hall towards the Finishing Room. It was empty, and so was the Container Yard. Luigi's lips thinned until they were little more than a line. If the Kiln Room was empty, he was going to have an issue.

            It was. Luigi ground his teeth together and stormed back to the Warehouse. Just as he was about the break something, the brunet remembered that the Dark-light Device would show the Polterpup's footprints and _froze._ “Oh my god,” he breathed out, his anger evaporating. “I can't believe I forgot.” He switched on the device and followed the footprints towards the Workshop. “Dammit.” He opened the door, glanced down at the footprints on the floor and followed them to a weird machine. Kicking it none too gently had the mutt leaping out and attempting to trip him. Then it dodged a Greenie's attempt to grab it and vanished through the ceiling, the small ghost following close behind. Luigi cursed his luck and raced for the Cargo Room. From there he turned sharply, ran up the stairs, and made a beeline for the Drafting Office.

            Once inside, Luigi followed the footprints to a nearby chest of drawers and carefully opened them, only to find himself flat on his back with the Polterpup licking his face gleefully. Behind him, a Greenie laughed manically and the mutt fled the room with the ghost following close behind. Luigi leapt to his feet and full-out ran for the door back to the Warehouse. There he was challenged by the second of the three Greenies, and he easily captured the ghost before returning to tracking the dog. The prints ran across the wall and led him into the Clockmaker's Chamber. This time the prints led to the dresser and the brunet was barely able to dodge the Polterpup's attempt to lick his face. He wasn't, however, fast enough to hit the mutt's face with the Strobe-light, and the damn thing escaped into the Roundhouse.

            It was waiting on the other side of the thin rails that Luigi used to cross the huge gap. He was three quarters across when the final Greenie burst out of the wall and scared the mutt off. From there, the footprints led through the Transportation Hall and into the Finishing Room. Luigi stepped in and leapt over the mutt's attempt to trip him before it fled the room. The Greenie, on the other hand, called for two Slammers, and the three ghosts attacked him. They were extremely easy to take down and the brunet sighed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair. He turned towards the door that would returned him to the Transportation Hall and wondered if this was really going to be worth it.

            The Polterpup was in the hall when he stepped in and the beast fled into the Container Yard. The moment he opened that door, however, it vanished back into the Transportation Hall. Luigi just knew it was leading him towards the end of the hall and sighed. He'd play along. For now. He smoothly made his way down towards the end of the area and stomped through the door that was there and headed directly for the Transportation Hall. Might as well get it over with.

            In the end, the Polterpup made a mistake. It returned to the Finishing room and hid within the furnace. This time, Luigi was ready and swiftly stunned it when it leapt out to lick at his face. From there, it was easy to suck the damn thing into the Poltergust 5000 and pick up the hour hand that had been dropped. Luigi sighed. “Finally,” he muttered and picked up the Duel Scream just as it began to ring. “I got the damn thing, Elvin.”

            “For once the mutt did us a favor. It snatched the hand from those pesky Greenies! I'll bring you back, now. Hold on tight, okay?”

**oOo**     

            Luigi landed with ease and tossed Elvin the hour hand. The scientist inspected it and breathed out a sigh of relief. “Good! The mutt didn't chew it up. After our last ghost-dog incident, I was worried I'd have to repair this thing.” He carefully squirreled away the hand. “Okay, you know the drill. Let's send those annoyances down to the Vault.” He tapped a button and the familiar pipe-vacuum thing popped up. Luigi fitted the head of the Poltergust in it and felt as the thing emptied. He pulled back and paused, recoiling away when the Polterpup exploded from the Poltergust 5000. It landed on Elvin and licked his face, barking happily, before bounding up to the top-most shelf and disappearing through the wall.

            Elvin shoved his glasses back into place and swore. “Dammit! Not again! I don't understand _how_ that little shit keeps escaping from the Poltergust 5000!” He visibly steadied himself and sighed. “It doesn't matter. We need to find the last missing clock piece: the rotor. You'll need it to operate the clock hands and open the Clock Tower Gate. Go take a break, alright? I'll need some time to track it down.” He spun around and returned to typing furiously. Luigi glanced up at the screen but couldn't understand half of what appeared and gave up, instead wandering off to find Meric.

            The Toad was usually in the kitchen and he always had _something_ good to eat. Even if it wasn't time for dinner. Or lunch. Or any meal for that matter.

            It was something that Luigi had found himself coming to depend upon.

            But, the brunet couldn't help but wonder..... What were the other Toads like? Were they straight forward and blunt like Meric? Or did each one have a radically different personality?

            Luigi wasn't sure, but he was definitely going to enjoy finding out.

 

 


	18. C-5: Piece At Last

From left to right: Zexus (who is in Ican's body), Denzel (who is in Zexus' body), Nita (who is on the floor in Meric's body), Ican (who is crying in Denzel's body), Lys (who is _really_ unimpressed), and Meric (who is currently freaking out in Nita's body).

 

* * *

 

Luigi woke up the next morning feeling like he was going to deal with a ton of bullshit. He sighed, rubbed his eyes, and stomped into the kitchen. Apparently he was the last one up this morning, as even Elvin was awake and suspiciously chipper. The brunet wanted nothing more than to set the bastard’s hair on _fire_. “Elvin,” he ground out, just barely managing to sound pleasant, “why the fuck are you so chipper?”

            The scientist swallowed nervously and nailed the red button on the wall, activating the Pixelator and sending Luigi straight into the Old Clockworks. He landed face first on the ground and raised his head, cursing loudly in between spitting out mouthfuls of sand. A series of thuds echoed around him as his stuff materialized a few seconds later and he vowed that he would get his revenge. Elvin hadn't given him a shirt. _Again._

            Back in the Bunker, Meric watched what was going on nervously. “You do know that he's going to try and kill you when he gets back, right?”

            Elvin nodded and picked up a nearby shovel. “I know. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to dig myself a grave.”

            The Toad snorted softly. “You might as well use the Duel Scream to inform him of what is going on, seeing as it's a little too late to do it here.”

            Elvin sighed and put the shovel down. He flopped down in his chair and began typing. Seconds later, Luigi's face appeared on the screen. “Lys,” Elvin smiled, hoping that his nervousness wasn't showing. Judging by the look on the others face, he wasn't doing a good job. “We have both clock hands now, so all that's left to find is the rotor. Only then will you be able to fix the Clock Tower Gate. The Parascope shows that the Dark Moon piece is still up there, but we've got to hurry. It's also picking up a lot of ghostly activity on the east side of the Old Clockworks. Which, naturally, makes me think that they're hiding the rotor there. The ghosts have that area on lock-down, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. There's another Pixelator camera in that area and I hacked it last night and adjusted the destination. I'd say, if you're careful, you can catch the ghosts off guard. And..... feel free to take your anger out on them. By this point, I'd say that they've earned it.”

            Luigi's lips peeled away from his teeth and he smiled. “Will do, boss. Anything else?”

            “Give 'em what for?”

            “Done.” With that, Luigi snapped the Duel Scream shut and glanced around. His map said that he was in the Service Elevator, just on the other side of the Cargo Room. The door there was blocked on both sides, but the door that led to the Gear Chamber was not. He watched as a Sneaker with weird lines all over it clutched the rotor to its chest and fled into the Gear Chamber before he could nail it with a fireball. It was faster than the usual Sneakers, almost as if it had been……enhanced in some way. His lips turned down. This was……suspicious. Luigi slunk over to the door and slid it open enough to peek in. The room was dark, but he couldn't see the thieving, pink bastard of a ghost.

            Carefully making his way over to what was obviously an elevator, Luigi stepped into it and waited as it sank down to a lower level before stepping off. There, floating in front of him and partially invisible, was the spirit. He hurled a fireball and scowled when it shot out of the way before disappearing through a hole into what his map said was the Storage Room. “Dammit,” he muttered and turned to head in the other direction to the lower levels of the Service Elevator. He was halfway down the stairs that led there when the Duel Scream vibrated in his pocket.

            Elvin looked beyond exasperated. “This just gets more and more complicated, doesn't it? We need to get you into that Storage Room.” He hummed thoughtfully and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair before suddenly sitting up straight. “Oh! I know! I hired a Toad to look after the Old Clockworks.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “You're forgetting, Elvin. I already know that I'm going to have to rescue him from a painting. I _saw_ him being attacked by Boos.”

            “I know _that,_ Lys, but he might be able to help you. According to my last conversation with him, he went to go check on a malfunction in the Synchronization Room. Start there and see what you find. See you later, Lys.” Elvin cut the connection and the brunet sighed.

            “Just f-ing wonderful. This is exactly what I needed today. Babysitting a Toad that has a fear of clocks inside of the Old Clockworks. This day _cannot_ get worse.” He winced the moment he said it. “Shit. I think I just jinxed myself.” Luigi finished descending the staircase and stared at the door that led to the Service Elevator. He sighed and opened it. The room itself was lit and he saw nothing but a long staircase that led to another door. Luigi walked down it, expecting everything and being rather disappointed when nothing happened.

            The next room, the Maintenance Hub, was also empty, but it had a still gear in the center of the room that was connected to a blank section of wall. Without even glancing at his map, Luigi _knew_ that there was going to be a door there. A quick shine of the Dark-light Device, and he forced the Spirit Balls away, sucking them up with glee, and the missing entrance was revealed. This one, according to his Duel Scream, connected to the Crank Room. The brunet was ninety nine percent sure that it was filled to the brim with ghosts. He sighed and slowly opened the door, groaning softly when he saw just how dark the room actually was. “Just wonderful,” he muttered under his breath. “Just freaking wonderful.”

            Across the room he could see two Slammers. One was reading some sort of newspaper and the other was attempting to beat the shit out of a locker. It wasn't really working. Luigi glanced around and followed the path to the right. He walked around the corner and down the staircase and sighed again before training the Dark-light Device on the missing gear. As soon as he sucked up all of the Spirit Balls, it appeared with little fanfare and all of the other gears began moving. The brunet stalked back up the stairs and walked over to where the horizontal gears were turning and stepped onto the nearest one. It carried him up to the next walkway and Luigi slipped through the gear that was rotating on the path. He paused and steadied his breathing, making sure that he was as silent as possible.

            With a twist, and a full charge of the Strobe-light, Luigi caught both Slammers unaware and easily sucked both of them into the Poltergust through the use of a power charge. The moment they were gone, all of the lights came on and the brunet wandered down to the locker all the way to the right. A swift kick had it flying open and he picked up the key that was inside before glancing around. There was one more horizontal gear that he would have to ride to get back to the main catwalk and the entrance, but he didn't really care. Riding gears was kind of cool, even if all of the dust did make him sneeze. At least it wasn't mist. _That_ had been rather embarrassing.

            Luigi stalked back into the Maintenance Hub and moved over towards the other bridge. It was locked and a glance at his map said that this one led to the Synchro Gantry. He stepped in and stared at the small room. There was no other door. But it clearly led to someplace else, as there was a one-way conveyor belt above him. And now that Luigi thought about it, there was an enormous coo-coo clock on the wall. He edged over to it and carefully knocked on the large doors, but the brunet was _not_ prepared for a huge bird to shoot out, crow loudly, grab the back of his coat, and then drag him into the birdhouse and dump his ass on the floor on the other side. It crowed at him again and vanished back into the clock.

            It had been one hell of a ride though, just not a fun one. He hissed at the clock and smothered the urge to set it alight. Then he actually looked around. An open doorway led to the Synchronization Room and he stepped through it. On the wall was the portrait of the Toad that he'd been looking for, but the way was blocked by three gears. He could just jump up onto them and walk across, but there wouldn't be a good way to get the Toad back over. Luigi glanced down at the lowest section and noted the two visible wheels. The way they were positioned said that there was a third one, most likely invisible, and the brunet was willing to bet that turning them would rotate the gears. He stalked over to them, forcefully revealed the missing wheel, and twisted them until a path to the painting had been formed. Slowly making his way back over, Luigi turned the Dark-light Device onto the painting and pulled the Toad out.

            The yellow spotted Toad shook his head and then glanced up. “Oh, thank fuck!” he breathed out. “Finally! I was certain that the professor had forgotten about me.”

            Luigi huffed softly and said with a smile, “I think he did. Meric, on the other hand, did not. Your name's Ican, right?”

            “Yup. Got it in one. Nice to meet you, Lui–”

            The brunet cut him off. “It's Lys. And I need a way into the Storage Room.”

            Ican regarded him carefully before nodding and continuing. “So, you need to get into there, huh? But first, you should, uh, know that I have....” he trailed off and looked embarrassed.

           “An irrational fear of clocks?” Luigi asked. Ican nodded. “Don't worry. I already questioned Elvin about that. Sometimes I think that man doesn't know what he's doing.”

            The Toad snorted. “Sometimes I want nothing more than to poke him with sharp things,” he admitted. “Come on. I can lead you to the room. Just a warning, though. There's been a lot of paranormal activity around here. I promise that I'll stay out of your way.”

            “Good,” Luigi said as he walked down the gear path. Just as they reached the bottom, purple gates slammed down and the gears spun wildly, blocking their way. It was only two mischief-making Greenies and they were easy to dispose of and Ican slipped out from where he had been hiding behind a large barrel.

            “Very nice,” he said. “I'd fight myself, but I seem to have misplaced my blade. It's probably back at the Bunker.”

            Luigi rose a single brow and said slowly, “I didn't know you used a blade.”

            Ican laughed and waved away his unspoken question. “All of us are skilled in some sort of weapon. We have to be, what with all of the spooks hanging around.” He carefully edged away from a large gear and followed the brunet into the room with the coo-coo clock, marching right up to it. A tap on a small button that Luigi hadn't noticed and the entire thing swung in like a door and he stepped through. “I'm handy with a blade. Doesn't matter the size of the thing, I've probably used it sometime.” A single eye slid towards the brunet. “Hasn't Meric mentioned it?”

            “I asked how you guys dealt with disturbances, but he was laughing too hard to answer so I sort of gave up.”

            “Brute,” Ican said then made a tsking sound. “That's very much like him.”

            “I wouldn't know about that. He did say to mention that I am a very good cook. I can't imagine why, though.”

            The yellow spotted Toad snorted. “That's good. Elvin can't do more than burn water and all of us Toads have a hearty appetite. Meric's the only one of us who can cook. Nita can do some basic stuff, and I'm good at chopping things, but that's about it. You'll be a major help keeping us from going hungry.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “I see.” In any case, shall we move on?” He slipped open the door to the Maintenance Hub and sighed. “Spooks in this room. Wait here, will you?” Ican nodded and he walked across the bridge to the moving gear. Immediately they rolled up and three Greenies wielding hammers and wooden shields appeared. The brunet sighed and, in no mood to deal with such things, set them all alight and watched as they burned until nothing was left and the room brightened. Ican, however, didn't move. Luigi glanced at him. “Aren't you coming?”

            “That is a giant-as-all-fuck gear. I am _not_ going near that.”

            The brunet sighed. “Close your eyes and walk straight forward. Towards my voice.” Ican shook his head and didn't budge. “Fine. I'll make your favorite meal and dessert.”

            “Is that a bribe, Lys?”

            “Yes.”

            For a long time, the yellow spotted Toad said and did nothing. Eventually, he sighed. “Fine.” Ican closed his eyes and carefully began walking forward. Once he was close enough, Luigi grabbed his hand, flipped him onto his back, and then took a running leap over the gap. He cleared it easily, Ican clinging to him, and landed gracefully.

            Luigi set Ican down and the Toad pressed himself against the nearest wall, his smaller body shaking. “You all right?” the brunet asked.

            “No. Give me a minute. I think I hate you.”

            “The next room is the Service Elevator and there's nothing there so, uh, you can rest while we head on through. Ready?”

            “More or less. Just, uh, warn me next time.” The unspoken _warn me or I'll skewer sensitive parts that you don't want skewered_ floated through the air and Luigi swallowed harshly and nodded.

            The trip up the stairs through the Service Elevator was quiet and the two appreciated that. The less they had to deal with, the better.

            The Gear Chamber, on the other hand, was _not_ quiet. In fact, it was anything _but_ quiet. Luigi scowled as the Enhanced –as he had decided to call it– Sneaker lunged for him. It was quickly driven back with an overpowered fireball to the head, but it scared Ican quite a bit. Luigi's eyes narrowed. “Stay here, Ican. I have a grudge to settle.” He stomped down into the large, sandy area, captured three Greenies that got too close, and nailed the Enhanced Sneaker two more times in the face.

            It shrieked at him, fury known in the pitch of its voice, and called for more allies. Three Greenies with shovels floated out of the wall, but they were smoothly taken care of with a burst of flame. _When will they learn not to use flammable objects around me?_ Luigi wondered. _Probably never._ He grinned darkly at the Enhanced Sneaker's anger and snorted when it called forth three more Greenies along with several dressed as mummies.

            Luigi cracked his neck, flexed his shoulders, and called forth a veritable army of fireballs. When the dust cleared, the only thing left was the Enhanced Sneaker and it didn't look happy. The thing rose into the air and _screamed_ , it's absolute _fury_ echoing around the room in the form of sound waves. Luigi dodged to the left and lunged forward, releasing a full charge of the Strobe-light in its face. The spirit recoiled backwards, clawing at its eyes and whining in pain. He felt minutely bad for sucking it into the Poltergust, but then remembered how much trouble it had caused, and immediately felt better.

            The room brightened considerably and Ican stepped out from behind a large, wooden box. “I didn't know you could form fireballs without the use of a Fireflower… Do you think that's the last ghost we'll be dealing with?”

            “Maybe,” Luigi said with a shrug. “You can't really tell.” He turned towards the stairs and started up them. “Come on. The sooner we find the rotor, the sooner we can get out of here.” He paused and sighed when the Duel Scream went off.

            “Well done, Lys. You really taught that ghost a lesson. It looked different than the other ghosts, though. I wonder why… Whatever. I can study the thing later. Right now we need to find that rotor.”

            Luigi snorted. “You mean, _I_ need to find the rotor.”

            Elvin shrugged. “Same difference,” he said and then closed the connection.

            Ican looked horrified. “Is he _trying_ to get you to kill him?”

            “I don't know,” Luigi said and began walking up the stairs. “Now, come on or I'll leave you behind.” He stalked up the staircase and over to the lift that was just out of his reach and stared at it for a while before turning to face Ican. “Do you think you can vault off of me and reach that?”

            Ican glanced at it. “Piece of cake.” He darted forward just as Luigi bent down and pushed off of the brunet's back, grabbing onto the edge of the lift and pulling himself up onto it. His weight pulled it down and he smirked when it slid into position. “All done.”

            Luigi grumbled softly and rubbed his shoulder. “Warn someone next time, okay?”

            “That was for the incident in the Maintenance Hub.” The yellow spotted Toad stalked over to the door and opened it. Above him, in a small crawl space, was the rotor. He scowled and glanced at Luigi. “If I stand on your back, I can crawl in and reach the damn thing.” Ican then shuddered. “Ugh. I can't believe I'm going to willingly touch a clock part.” He waited until Luigi had bent down in front of him and wiggled his way into the small area. At the end was the rotor and an area when he could flip over the edge and drop down, practically hurling the rotor at the brunet the moment he was on the floor.

            Luigi caught it smoothly and squirreled it away in one of his many pockets. When he glanced up, Ican was watching him with a smirk on his face. “What?” the brunet snapped.

            “Nice chest, sexy.”

            “Oh, dear god. Not this again. Meric already said that and blame Elvin.”

            “Fine with me, but how are we going to get out of here?” Ican asked.

            “There's a door at the top of the room. We can head out that way. From there, it's a quick path to the Pixelator Screen in the Service Elevator.”

            Ican sighed in relief. “Thank fuck. I'm three hundred percent done with this place. I don't think I can take much more.” He hurried along the path and leapt off at the end, pausing to see if the brunet was following. “Hurry up!” He headed towards the door and opened it, peeking through to see if there was anything on the other side. The room was bright and Ican smiled before stepping in, Luigi right behind. The two of them walked over to the screen and the brunet pulled the lever, watching as the Toad was pixelated out of the Old Clockworks.

            Seconds later, the Duel Scream went off. Elvin looked particularly pleased. “Thanks for rescuing Ican, Lys. He was delighted to see Meric. The two of them are chatting about how hot you are without a shirt and I don't think I can take much more. Great job tracking down the rotor, I'm bring you back right now to suffer with me.”

**oOo**

            Elvin was sitting in his chair when Luigi returned, drinking whiskey straight from the bottle. “Well done. You handled that well. That Sneaker you caught seems to be more powerful than the others.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “I'll say. It took several of my fireballs to the face and didn't seem to be hurt.”

            “The strange marks all over its body are odd as well. In any case, Ican brought back a security image. It'll take all night all night to process, so find something else to do for a while. Keep the rotor while you're at it, seeing as you'll be using it to challenge the Possessor Ghost tomorrow.” He went back to typing and Luigi sighed under his breath before leaving the room.

            Meric poked his head out of the kitchen and glanced around. Seeing that there wasn't anyone near, he stepped back in and turned to Ican. Then he proceeded to inform the other of everything that had been going on in the Bunker.

            Including the various love lives.


	19. Showtime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This boss fight was a fucking pain in the ass, same with the next one. Ugh. But, I have to play it to write it, so, whatever. Enjoy.

From left to right: Meric, Lys, Elvin, and Kaihau.

 

* * *

 

            _Well,_ Luigi thought when he stepped into the kitchen the next morning, _here_ _we_ _go again._ He rolled his eyes, breathed in deeply, and tried to ignore his growing anxiety. Ican was also awake and the yellow spotted Toad was polishing his blade with practiced but nervous strokes. The brunet glanced around and immediately headed for the coffee maker, hoping to drown the anxious feeling with several mugs of caffeine. “Where's Elvin?”

            “Beats me,” Ican said with a shrug, “but for some reason, I'm, like, extremely nervous.”

            “Same. I don't know why and it's just making it worse.”

            Ican stood up and wandered over to Elvin's spinny chair, blade in hand. There he picked up the two clock hands and tossed them to Luigi. “Here. You'll need these.”

            Luigi caught them and hid the two pieces of metal in a coat pocket. “Thanks. You know how to pixelate me into the place?”

            “Yes. The professor doesn't realize it, but all of us Toads know how to work the Pixelator. Usually we don't bother.” He sank into the chair and began typing. “Stand in the usual spot, please, and I'll send you, like, right in.”

            “Anything I should know?” Luigi asked.

            Ican hummed and hit a few more keys. “Eh? Kinda. The Possessor will be at the top of the tower...... Oh yeah! The security image I brought back. Here.” He pulled the photo up onto the screen and Luigi's chest ached when he spotted the familiar shadow of King Boo. Ican noted it as well. “So, it looks like Kaihau was here, but knowing him, he'll probably have, like, moved onto the next area by the time you get up to the top. Sorry 'bout that.”

            At the top of the image was the Possessor ghost ordering a few others around. The yellow spotted Toad zoomed in and snorted. “That area's just behind the Clock Tower Gate. I'm, like, honestly not surprised that there's another Possessor. They all seem to be headed to the top of the tower. I'd be prepared for, like, one hell of a fight.”

            He zoomed out again and passed the controls over to Luigi. The brunet immediately zoned in on the Boo in the bottom right corner. It had just created Spirit Balls but hadn't created an illusion quite yet. Luigi sighed. “King Boo gave them the ability to use the Spirit Balls. I just wish he hadn't.” He then shifted the photo to the large sack in the center of the screen. Inside of the bag was a painting, his brother's familiar cap clear to be seen.

            Ican snorted. “That your idiot sibling?”

            “Yeah. And that's Kaihau's shadow on the wall, too. I just knew it. Great.” He canceled the image and the screen vanished into the ceiling.

            The yellow spotted Toad leaned back in Elvin's chair. “That glow coming from outside the limits gives me a very bad feeling. Like, beyond bad.”

            Luigi sighed under his breath. “That was probably the Dark Moon piece in Kaihau's crown. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up right.”

            Ican gave him a sympathetic look. “True. But you need to get to the top of the Clock Tower as fast as possible, okay? Like, the sooner, the better. You have all of the pieces to the gate, so, like, be quick. It's showtime!” He cackled gleefully and pressed the button, activating the Pixelator.

**oOo**

            Luigi landed silently on the ground outside of the gate and waded through the sand towards the steps. The clock hands were easily shoved back into position and the rotor smoothly clicked into its place. Remembering the numbers that had appeared in the security image, he spun the rotor around until the hands were pointing towards seven thirty. With a loud gong, everything unlocked and the huge clock slid up on silent hinges to reveal the door. He opened it carefully and glanced inside. The Movements were silent as the grave.

            But it was also lit, showing that there weren't any spooks about. Luigi relaxed just enough and stepped onto the lift, spinning each wheel as he came to it and sending the small platform into the sky. It slowed down when he reached the door at the top of the Movements, and the brunet swallowed. He had no idea what he was going to find on the roof of the clock tower. He glanced down at his map and stepped through into the Belfry. It, too, was empty and Luigi carefully crept down towards the ladder, freezing when something under his feet _shifted._

            He had a millisecond to realize what was going to happen before it actually did, and the brunet whimpered. “OH FUC–” Then the spring loaded platform that he had stepped on launched him into the sky. Luigi shot up, tumbling head over ass, and hit a peak height of twenty feet above the roof of the clock tower before coming down. Somehow he managed to land without killing, or even injuring himself and the brunet just lay there for a long time, whining softly. Next to him was the now open trapdoor and he kicked it shut with a foot and ignored the Possessor that had been hiding behind it. It hovered for a few seconds, confused as to what it should do before floating higher into the air. A ball of shadows formed in its hand and Luigi growled, “Don't you fucking dare!” and it dispersed its attack.

            Luigi pulled himself to his feet and glared at the Possessor. “I'm going to guess that King Boo has already moved on to the next area?”

            It nodded, chattered in its own language, and pointed in the direction of what looked like a mine in a very cold area. Luigi groaned. “Just my luck. I hate the cold.” The Possessor shrugged and flipped in the air twice, nailed the entire clock with some sort of power, and disappeared into the Belfry Tower. Then the minute hand spun around once and the hour hand ticked to one. A Greenie popped out of the 1 and shot into the air. Luigi leapt forward and stunned it with the Strobe-light, completely aware of the fact that the minute hand was slowly ticking around. He only had sixty seconds to fight each battle. And judging by the fact that the battle ground was a clock, he was going to have to fight twelve separate battles.

            Two o'clock came with three Greenies at the same time. They slipped out of the '2' together and were easy to stun and suck into the Poltergust. Three o'clock was five Greenies. Still easy, but definitely getting harder as it progressed.

            Four o'clock resulted in two Slammers popping out. Definitely easier than the five Greenies, but Luigi shifted his weight as he sucked them in and leapt over the minute hand as it swung around wildly.  Then everything froze and the Possessor shot out of the Belfry. The familiar shield formed around it and it tore around the small playing field, slamming into the walls in the form of a square. Luigi hurled himself out of the way. Then it shook its head wildly and the brunet took the chance to stun it and suck off the first layer of skin. The spirit wriggled out and vanished into the Belfry and everything unfroze.

            Five o'clock was when things started to get interesting. Sand flooded the area and the damn little beetle like bugs, scarabs? – started appearing. It was all Luigi could do to fireball them before time ran out. But he did, fairly quickly once he started to make his flames explode, and then proceeded to hurl himself out of the way of the annoying minute hand. The thing was determined to cut him in half and Luigi was rather fond of living. Six o'clock came with more sand and three Sneakers. There was only enough sand to tell where they were sometimes, and Luigi gave up within seconds and sent a wash of fire across the entire area. The pink ghosts appeared instantly and they were swiftly stunned and sucked into the Poltergust. By this point, Luigi just wanted to fight the Possessor, collect the chunk of the Dark Moon and get it over with.

            Seven o'clock had three Greenies wielding hammers and shields. Luigi huffed under his breath and set everything one fire. With their weapons little more than ashes, the spirits glanced at each other, then the brunet, back to each other, and then tried to flee. They didn't make it far before Luigi burnt them out of existence. Eight o'clock was more sand and three Greenies dressed as mummies and Luigi felt the grip he had on his temper _slip_ and everything was lit on fire. The heat of the flames was so intense that he burned his hands and the only reason the clock survived was because it was protected by the Possessor's magic. He panted, pressed against the edge of the clock wall, and watched as the flames died away. The 8 on the clock filled in and, again, everything froze.

            The Possessor exploded out of the Belfry, shield already in place, and zoomed around small area. For the second time, Luigi hurled himself out of the way and nailed the bastard with the Strobe-light. The second layer of skin was sucked off and then the red spirit vanished back into its hideout. The clock ticked forward to nine.

            Nine o'clock was easy. Just more of the beetle-like scarabs. They popped like corn when hit with a flash of the Strobe-light, so they were simple to get rid of. Luigi sagged slightly and panted. He knew he wasn't going to see the Possessor until he had cleared twelve o'clock and wasn't really looking forward to what came next. Ten o'clock was a series of Creepers. A complete piece of cake compared to the rest of the bullshit that he had faced and Luigi winced slightly, wondering what eleven and twelve would bring. Hopefully nothing too difficult. He was already tiring, something that was both annoying and alarming, and the brunet was mostly fed up. He just wanted to go back to the Bunker and drink a whole bottle of whiskey. Or at least, _something_ that had alcohol.

            Eleven o'clock brought with it way too many of the exploding bombs. They chased him around the outer rim of the clock and he leapt over them seconds before they could explode in his face. It didn't take long for all of them to off themselves, but it left Luigi exhausted, bleeding, and more than a little pissed off. The next time he saw the Possessor, he was going to rip it a new asshole.

            Twelve o'clock, or noon, or midnight, or _whatever_ , came with the worst mixture ever. A Greenie, a Slammer, a Sneaker, three of the scarab beetles, two bombs, and an armed Greenie. Luigi was, at this point, anything _but_ amused. He ground his teeth together, set the bombs off, fireballed the beetles, and stunned the two Greenies and the Slammer. Then came the Sneaker and he caught it with the edge of his Strobe-light and sucked everything into the Poltergust 5000. But the brunet had to give it to the Possessor, that fucker was one determined ghost.

            It was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him. A 12 filled in on the clock and the Possessor hurled itself out of the Belfry, screaming bloody murder. The shield appeared automatically and it tore around the clock, slicing a deep gash into Luigi's side as it went. The brunet cried out in pain and stunned the ghost the moment he could, sucking it into the Poltergust quickly. There was a clatter as the third piece of the Dark Moon landed on the ground. Wincing with each step, Luigi nudged his shoe underneath the stone and kicked it high enough into the air that he could catch it without bending over. He shoved the gem into his pocket and picked up the Duel Scream when it went off.

            Ican's face appeared and the Toad looked slightly ill. “Like, is your side alright?”

            “I'll have to wait a while before I venture into the next area, but yeah. Where's Elvin.”

            “Out cold. He's, like, sleeping off a hangover and a concussion at the same time. Tried to cook drunk last night and Meric didn't take that well. Nailed the moron over the head with a cast iron frying pan. He'll be, like, up and about in a couple of days. Hold on, I'll bring you back and Meric will have bandages ready, 'kay?”

**oOo**

            Luigi landed in the Bunker and stumbled, Ican immediately catching his arm. Meric poked his shoulder. “Drop the Poltergust and strip off your shirt. Ican will empty the thing and I'll help you dress your wounds.” The brunet nodded and dropped the vacuum on the floor and pulled off his shirt. Meric let out a low whistle. “Oooh, that's gotta hurt.”

            “Like, yeah.” Ican hummed as he emptied the Poltergust and watched as his fellow Toad helped Luigi with his side. “So, like, where's the Dark Moon piece?”

            The brunet didn't answer, instead choosing to toss it over. Ican placed it on the cleaner and stepped back to pull a map down from the ceiling. Meric finally voiced what he had been thinking about for the past fifteen minutes. “It seems to me that the longer the Possessor ghosts remain with the Dark Moon pieces, the stronger they become.” There was a beep as the piece was finished cleaning and the machine vanished into the ground. “There,” the red spotted Toad said as he pointed to a new part on the map. “That's the Secret Mine. It's freezing cold, barren as fuck, and poor Zexus has to work there.”

            Ican tapped his chin. “Isn't that the top of the mountains?”

            “Yup. It's the coldest part of the Evershade Valley. Hope you brought your winter coat, Lys. It's as cold as a witch's tits.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “Great. That's exactly what I need right now. To freeze my ass off and deal with cold spooks. Fuck you too.”

            Meric sighed. “How about I bribe you with warm food and spiked drinks?”

            “I can cook.”

            “But do you _want_ to?”

            “No.”

            “That's what I thought. Go rest and I'll bring you something to eat.” Luigi nodded, sniffed daintily and strode out of the room, wincing every third step. Meric glanced at Ican. “Kaihau's already in the Secret Mine. Somehow that ass is one step ahead of Lys, and it's driving him insane with need. If we could catch up with the Boo king, I'd say we should shove them in a closet together, but I don't think it's possible. Damn.”

            He sighed and sank down on the couch. Ican shook his head and returned to finding more information on the Secret Mine.


	20. D-1: Cold Case

From left to right, Lys (who is regretting everything), Ican (who may or may not be all right), Meric (who is well on his way to being drunk), Nita (who is having a nervous breakdown), Elvin (who can't even crack eggs), and Kaihau (who is probably the reason why the oven is on fire).

 

* * *

            Elvin strode into the kitchen the next morning with a frown on his face. “Lys,” he said and waited for the brunet to stop stuffing his face.

            “What?” the brunet mumbled around his mouthful of egg. He was barely awake, just enough to eat without falling face-first into the plate. Luigi chewed his mouthful, swallowed, and then washed the last of his scrambled eggs down with a mug full of coffee.

            “Again, for the second time, it amazes me how much caffeine you can ingest and yet still get a full night's sleep. The same with what you eat. You're practically a black hole.”

            “Like I said, it's a gift,” Luigi grumbled, lazily waving a hand. “More eggs please, Meric!”

            Meric poked his head out of the kitchen and frowned. “Sure, but you gotta help me cook for Ican and myself.” He then glanced up at Elvin. “Hey, boss. You're gonna have to go out grocery shopping soon. Between Ican, Lys, and I, we've almost cleaned out the fridge. Not to mention the fact that Zexus will soon be joining us.”

            “Yeah, yeah,” Elvin said and turned back to Luigi. “I hope you like snow, Lys, because your next destination is the top of a snowy mountain.”

            Luigi's head snapped up and he dropped his fork, a horrified look frozen on his face. “Snow?!? I _hate_ snow!” he practically howled. “Too wet, too cold, and in too many places it doesn't need to be!” Behind him, Meric snorted, and Luigi whipped around. “Laugh it up you dick, you're not the one who's gonna be trudging through it.”

            The red spotted Toad sighed. “Not that. Zexus has the same opinion as you. He hates snow with a passion.”

            Ican chose to stumble into the room moments later and he blinked bleary eyes at the laughing forms in front of him. “What'z gonin' on?” He yawned widely and collapsed into the nearest chair. Meric handed him a cup of coffee and a plate of eggs.

            “Here.”

            Elvin, rather irritated that he was being ignored, ground his teeth together and said, “Can you _please_ pay attention? A secret mining operation was started up in the mine a while back, but it's been abandoned since.” He flopped down in his chair and began typing, pulling up pictures as he spoke. “Apparently the minerals in the mountain –especially the crystals– have unusual properties. The Dark Moon piece is somewhere in the damn place, though I have no idea as to where. The signal picked up by the Parascope is unstable because of the rather shitty weather. Luckily, I already have a Toad assistant there doing research.”

            Both Ican and Meric gave their boss a dirty look. “Can you even remember his name?”

            Elvin looked sheepish. “Not really. It slipped out sometime during all the confusion back when the Dark Moon shattered.” Luigi snorted softly and pulled on his boots, trench coat, and Poltergust. A slender pair of gloves were removed from his pockets and he slid them on.

            “Zexus,” Meric sighed out as he watched Luigi bundle up. “Zexus is the Toad in the Secret Mine. He's a very intelligent, sarcastic-as-fuck, witty asshole.”

            “Dammit, Elvin,” Ican muttered. “At least _try_ and remember the names of your assistants. Please?”

            “Zexus may have see where the Dark Moon piece landed, but he's not responding to my calls. He's probably in the Chalet, napping in front of the fireplace. I'll pixelate you nearby.”

           Luigi grumbled under his breath, cursing everything from snow the cold itself. “And if I don't find him there, he's probably trapped in a painting.”

            “That does seem to be a reoccurring theme,” Elvin admitted. “I wouldn't be surprised if he was. Now, get moving.” He pressed the button that activated the Pixelator and watched as the brunet was sucked in.

**oOo**

            Luigi landed gracefully as he was able to, took a step forward, and immediately slipped on the ice hidden underneath the snow. He landed flat on his back and cursed softly, hoping that there wasn't anything nearby to witness his spectacular fall. A crow cawed from a nearby, snow covered branch and the brunet hurled a fireball at it. He shakily pulled himself to his feet and glanced around. The map said that it was the Chalet Approach, and that it actually wasn't that long of a path. Just rather steep and covered in snow and ice. Luigi groaned softly and began trudging through the ankle deep snow and thanked all the Gods he knew that his boots went up past his knees. “As soon as I get back to the Bunker, I am springing for thigh high boots.” If anything, it would keep the snow out.

            He was just starting up the stairs when a ghost breathed on the window and drew a face in the fog. Luigi's lips quirked up. That had actually been rather cute. But it did mean that Zexus wasn't in the Chalet. No self respecting Toad would be in the same room as a malevolent spirit. It just wasn't done. He slunk up to the door and kicked it open. Hiding inside, and he watched where they went, were two Hiders. Each one fled to the opposite side of the room. There also seemed to be a fur rug that _roared_. Definitely the work of a mischievous spirit. Turns out that it was a Sneaker and Luigi gleefully stunned and caught all three of the ghosts. He glanced around. Empty. Which, of course, meant that Zexus was most likely trapped in a painting. “Just wonderful,” Luigi muttered and headed towards the other door.

            Just as he was nearing it, the Duel Scream went off. Elvin didn't look pleased. “No sign of Zexus, eh? If he's not fishing in the Fishing Hut out back, then we've got a real problem on our hands. Go take a look. I'll check in on you in five minutes.” He cut the connection and Luigi opened the door to the Smokehouse enough to glance around. Dark. He carefully slipped in and shut the door behind himself and headed towards the one that lead outside. The brunet knelt down and studied it closely. It had been frozen closed. Just as he was about to call on his fire to melt the ice, the stove behind him suddenly activated, its teakettle singing loudly in the cold night.

            Luigi sighed under his breath and turned around just in time to see two Greenies explode out of the stove. He gave them a look. “How is it that you can hide in a lit stove, but not deal with my personal fire?”

            They shrugged and one of the ghosts had the gall to chuck a flaming hot rock at the brunet. Luigi, in turn, dodged and lit them on fire and watched as the room brightened when they were gone. “Fools,” he muttered. “How dare they challenge me.” He tilted his head back and cackled loudly, hands in the traditional 'evil' pose. Moments later, when he was finally able to stop, Luigi turned around, opened the door that led outside, stepped through, and promptly shivered. “God dammit, Elvin. I hate you. Fucking cold. Fucking Boos. Fucking paintings. I _really_ should be getting paid to put up with this level of bullshit.”

            The Ice Lake was completely frozen and Luigi grumbled as he stalked over towards the Fishing Hut. Movement in the edge of his vision caught his eyes and he swung around and stared out through the trees. In the distance was a dark object, possibly where the next Possessor was hiding, and Luigi watched with a sinking heart as King Boo vanished into it. He closed his eyes, knowing perfectly well that it was his fault that Kaihau was avoiding him. His breath caught in his chest and the brunet hunched over slightly, fighting the tears.

            Could he do _anything_ right? _Anything_ at all?

            Maybe.

            Probably not.

            ……No. He couldn't. Not now, not ever. Mario had made sure that he knew that well.

            Luigi the Failure. A nickname the other had gleefully coined.

            He sniffed once, fought the urge to cry and began to stride forward. It was all he could do. Just…move on. Like he always did. Move on and never look back.

            _Just keep swimming,_ he sang in his mind, the familiar tune a way of calming him down. Another bottle of feelings, another Molotov cocktail of emotions that he'd use as a weapon later. Luigi rolled his eyes and sighed, carefully making his way across the slippery snow. Once in front of the Fishing Hut, he groaned softly. _Someone_ had vanished the door to the building, and the brunet was getting really fucking tired of revealing the damn things. He sighed again and trained the Dark-light Device on the missing section, forcing the Spirit Balls out of the wood. Lucky for him, they bunched up together and he didn't have to chase them down like usual, making revealing the entrance to the Fishing Hut infinitely easier.

            He opened the door and stared at the icy floor with an expression of disbelief before groaning loudly. Not only had the Boos captured the Toad, but they'd also made the portrait invisible through the liberal use of Spirit Balls.

            _This day **can't** get any worse_.

            He switched to the Dark-light Device and yanked the Toad out of the painting. This one had blue spots and, according to Meric, was Zexus. The Toad hit the ground fairly hard, cracking the ice slightly, and glanced up at him with a smirk. “Thank fuck. I was sick and tired of being stuck in there.” He leapt to his feet and the ice cracked further, and he sniffed daintily before stomping one foot down like a child. A large crack echoed throughout the room and the Toad froze. “Oh fuck,” Zexus breathed out just as the ice beneath their feet shattered into thousands of pieces _._

           _On second thought,_ Luigi's mind told him as the two fell through the air and into the mine itself, _maybe it can._ He mentally gave his brain the middle finger and told it to shut up. “The universe,” he would later tell Zexus when they were back in the warm Bunker, “likes to prove me wrong.”

            Zexus just nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile. “Same. I think it does it to everybody, some more than others.”

**oOo**

            They both fell, twisting and tumbling through the air, and Luigi desperately tried to keep from spinning around. It was getting colder and he shivered, silently cursing Elvin with every word he could think of. It was lucky that they landed in a pile of snow, the white powder cushioning their fall, and Zexus poked his head out of the stuff and spat out a mouthful. “Fuck snow,” he hissed. Luigi shivered and nodded and pulled himself to his feet. They were directly underneath the Fishing Hut and his Duel Scream went off.

            Elvin was frowning, his face shrouded by static. “You're los--g rec-ption. Are you undergr--nd?”

            “Yeah. We're underneath the Fishing Hut because **_someone_** had to jump and break the ice.”

            “Dude, I'm sorry. Didn't realize it was that thin. Stupid Boos. When I get my hands on them, I'm gonna.....” He trailed off and made a noise in the back of his throat.

            Luigi snorted. “Do what?”

            “I don't know. I haven't gotten that far yet.”

            The scientist rolled his eyes. “N--e to see that y-- found Ze--s. I'- goi-g to assum- t-at he was seal-d in a painti-g? You pro--bly fell int- t-- old mine. T--- place is extr---ly da--erous! Be ca--ful. T--ere's an old elevat-r that sh--ld take --u back t- --- Chalet. That's th- on-y way out! Good l--k!” He vanished from the screen and Luigi sighed and glanced at Zexus.

            “Looks like it's just you and me.”

            Zexus grinned, showing way too many teeth to be safe. “And my axe.” He held up the gigantic Great Axe and Luigi choked on his spit. The thing was huge, larger than the Toad, and yet he was handling it with ease.

            “Where the fuck did you get that from?”

            “My pockets. Where else would I keep it?”

            The brunet spluttered before shaking his head and deciding that he _didn't_ want to know. “Just,” he began weakly and headed towards the marking on his map. “Never mind. Follow me.” Luigi stepped onto the geyser of hot air and flipped gracefully through the air to land nearly on the second level. Behind him, Zexus grinned and hopped into the stream. He flipped twice and promptly plowed into a nearby snow bank. The brunet snorted and pulled him out, heating him up with the warmth of a fireball. The Toad eyed it carefully.

            “That's pretty cool. Also,” he grinned cheekily and pinched Luigi's ass, earning a loud yelp, “your ass looks _great_ in those pants.”

            “I am _not_ interested, thank you very much,” the brunet snapped.

            “I never said I was either. You just look great in leather.” Zexus hefted his axe and opened the door that led to the Terminal. “Come on. I'm freezing and Meric makes great hot chocolate.”

            “How do you know Meric's at the Bunker?”

            “He was in the Haunted Towers. It only makes sense that you've have already cleared the place out. Now ask me if I've seen any hot men with white hair.” Luigi spluttered loudly and shoved past him, slamming the door in the Toad's face. “Okay,” Zexus called from the other side, “I'm sorry, now let me in before I cut the thing down.”

            “Fine.” Luigi stepped back and the door opened, slamming shut behind the Toad as he stepped through. “Keep moving and watch your mouth lest I fireball you.” He grinned showing all sorts of teeth. “I normally don't eat mushrooms, but I think I can make an exception if you keep annoying me.”

            Zexus nodded and edged away, recognizing the warning for what it was. He glanced around the Terminal and sighed. “Well, the zipline that leads down to the elevator in the Airway can't be activated from up here and the door to the Prospector's Crossing is locked. We should still check out the Airway anyway. We might find something.” He slipped over to the door and opened it, and stepped through when he saw nothing. Luigi followed close behind him and noted the key sitting in the lift.

            He pointed it out. “Is that the key to the door to Prospector's Crossing?”

            The blue spotted Toad scowled. “Yes. And it's just out of my reach.”

            Luigi shook his head. “Here, hop in the other side of the lift. Your weight will drag it down and bring the key into range.”

            “Are you calling me _fat_?”

            “Nope. You're what, a hundred pounds or so?”

            “Well, I'm five foot one, so probably about a hundred or so. None of us Toads are really tall. Or big, for that matter.”

            “Like I said, just enough weight to pull the lift down.” Zexus sighed under his breath and leapt up into the lift, watching with amusement as Luigi snagged the key and waved it cheerfully seconds before it disappeared into a pocket.

            Zexus eyed the brunet's coat and said with a hint of envy, “I want a jacket like that.”

            “What; warm, comfortable, and far more pockets then one knows what to do with?”

            “Exactly.”

            Luigi snorted and headed back into the Terminal. He stalked across the room, trench coat flapping open like a huge set of wings, and slipped the key into the lock. He turned it and watched as it dissolved into nothing before opening the door. “Alright, here we go!” He stepped into the room and stared at the giant ice flow that covered the floor. It was cold enough that the surface water had frozen solid, but everything underneath was still moving. Zexus sighed and carefully skated across, ignoring the way the ice cracking underneath him. Luigi winced slightly when the Toad tripped and skidded the last couple of feet, but the ice quickly refroze and he made his own way across. Zexus gave him a fowl look and the brunet snickered. “What? It’s not my fault you aren't graceful.” He opened the door and held it open for the other.

            Zexus sniffed daintily and stepped through into the Drift Hall. He glanced to his left and pointed to the treasure chest that was across what seemed to be a large gap. “That's probably got the key we need. I know the door to the Basin is locked.”

            Luigi nodded and calmly stepped forward, sliding across the clear ice to reach the other side. And there _had_ to be ice there. It wouldn't have reflected so perfectly if it had been a gap.... He fireballed the bats that challenged him, sucked the snow off of the chest, and flipped it open. Like Zexus had said, the key was at the bottom and he picked it up and marched back over to the Toad. Slipping past him, Luigi smoothly made his way to the base of the stairs and unlocked the door with a huff of cold air. “Ugh,” he muttered. “I hate this place.”

            “Me too. I'm requesting a transfer to the Old Clockworks when we get out of here. Ican's fine with these temperatures and I don't have his phobia. It'll work out perfectly.”

            Once inside the room, with both doors barred by purple gates, Luigi noticed the floor made entirely of ice and cursed. Then he saw the three Sneakers fading into nothing and cursed louder. _Then_ he saw Zexus swung his Great Axe and _behead_ one of the spirits that came too close. The other two spirits immediately became visible and shrieked in horror. Luigi didn't blame them. That had been slightly terrifying. He took his chance and stunned the Sneakers, quickly sucking them into the Poltergust before he turned to face Zexus. “How did you _hit_ the thing? I thought spirits were immune to regular weapons.”

            “Normally, yes. But all of us had our weapons enchanted. As long as it has some form of lifeforce, we can hit it. Even Meric, who mainly sticks to hand-to-hand combat. He wears special Knuckle Dusters that have the spell woven into the metal. Sort of like how you have your fireballs. It's magic, so they can't dodge it. There are some spirits that are resistant to fire, but most aren't.”

            Luigi hummed thoughtfully. “There was an adventure where I saved the Bean Kingdom from Cackeletta..... I could use lightning then. I wonder if I still can.” He closed his eyes and concentrated, calling up the feeling of using the lightning. He remembered how it crackled over his hand, arcing up in sparks of color. Faintly he heard Zexus' gasp, and Luigi opened his eyes to find that his hand was swathed in yellowish-green lightning. His eyes widened and he lost control, the electricity sparking out and singing his hand.

           He yelped in pain and shook his hand quickly, dispersing the electricity and watching as it faded into nothing. “Man,” he muttered, “I almost had it.”

            Zexus shrugged. “At least you know you can do it.” Shall we move on? As cool as it was to watch you play with lightning, I'm rather done with freezing my ass off.”

            “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Luigi stalked over to the door and threw it open. “We're almost through. Here's the Airway.”

            “We'll be on the lower level, so all you have to do is fix the sagging bridge.”

            Luigi took one look at the bridge and whined deep in his throat. Then he sighed and yanked one of the ropes back into place, tugging one side of the thing into position. He breathed in slowly and paused, hesitated even, before darting forward and quickly edging across the small edge of the wooden structure. There, on the other side of the canyon, he yanked the other rope into position and watched as Zexus carefully crossed over the bridge. Behind him came the cackle of King Boo, echoing throughout the area, and Luigi swallowed hard. He was running out of time.

            He sighed and turned towards the elevator. “Shall we?” Luigi asked.

            “Yes,” Zexus responded, “we shall.” They stepped into it and watched as they rose up towards the Chalet.

            Inside, Luigi was not surprised to see the polar bear rug hanging over the edge of the elevator. Zexus snorted and walked over towards the Pixelator Screen. The brunet rolled his eyes and pulled the switch, watching as the Toad was returned to the Bunker.

            Then, his Duel Scream went off. Elvin looked amused and Luigi could see Ican waving cheerfully in the background. “You had me worried for a minute there, Lys. I thought I'd have to go looking for the both of you myself. Zexus made it back safe and sound. Meric is feeding him hot soup and cocoa. I'll bring you back now so you can get the same treatment.” He vanished from the screen.

**oOo**

            “It can be said,” Luigi said as he landed gracefully in the Bunker, “that this area sucks ass.”

            Zexus glanced up from where he was lounging in front of the fireplace. “Agreed. Here's to being warm.” He went back to sipping at his drink and Meric snorted softly as he sat down beside the other Toad. Elvin spun around in his chair, wrapped in a warm blanket and drinking from his own mug, and said, “Welcome back. Zexus is a bit spooked, but he'll be okay. I think…”

            “I'll be fine. Just don't make me go back,” the blue spotted Toad called from where he had nestled down into the blankets.

            Elvin nodded and turned back towards Luigi. “He hasn't seen the Dark Moon piece, but he told me the ghosts –Boos especially – have been very active. He mentioned that you both heard some crazed laughter coming from the bottom of the mine.”

            Luigi sighed. “Kaihau,” he said softly. “That was King Boo's laughter.”

            Elvin winced and ran a hand through his silver gray spikes. “I figured that. It seems like he's slipping even further. But, Zexus brought back a snapshot from the tridimensional security camera. I'll process it and you can take a look tomorrow morning.”

            “Agreed,” the brunet murmured and he slipped off down the hallway.

**oOo**

            His own bed was cold and Luigi slept fitfully, whining deep in his chest whenever he saw or heard the Boo king. His heart _hurt_ , it seared and seared and never stopped. _Why why why why why_

            — _ock_

_Tick ~_ He was running out of time. He needed to move faster.

_Tock ~_ He wasn't fast enough. He was falling, falling, falling, falling down.

_Tick ~_ Falling, falling, falling, he wasn't good enough…

_Tock_ ~ There was so much _blood._

_Ti—_

 


	21. D-2: Hit Rock Bottom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very fitting title for what I have planned. Oops. I'm a horrible person.

From left to right: Lys (who is most likely going to be banned from the Gym), Kaihau (who clearly doesn't know how to change clothes), Denzel (who is having way too much fun; also, those gloves), Ican (who can see what's coming and isn't liking it), and Nita (who is far too flexible and has an awesome sense of style).

 

* * *

            Fitful sleeps left Luigi feeling exhausted, both emotionally and physically. He opened his eyes and whined softly, thin tears leaving trails down his cheeks. He hurt, so much so that he wondered if it would ever end. The brunet rolled over, clutching at his chest and trying to breath steadily. He didn't hear Elvin enter the room, but he did feel the scientist sit on the edge of his bed and pull him into a fierce hug. “Hey,” the elder man murmured softly, “I'm here for you, okay?” Luigi didn't answer, instead choosing to bury his face against the others chest and cry. They weren't graceful tears, nor was it a few small hiccups. No, this was a full breakdown. It was heart-wrenching, broken sobs that shook the body and rattled the lungs, leaving behind an aching chest, a stuffy, red nose, and an agonizing headache. Eventually, Elvin noted that the noises had stopped and he glanced down, a sad smile gracing his lips. Luigi had fallen back asleep, but the scientist didn't leave. Instead he curled up with the brunet, tucking the smaller male in closer. He glanced over at the door and nodded and the three Toads slunk into the room. All of them curled up onto the bed with the brunet, shifting closer and snuggling up. Nobody moved for hours.

            When Luigi next woke up, he was encased in a cocoon of warmth, and he felt a little better. His heart still hurt, but nowhere near as much as it had earlier. Beside him, Elvin stirred in his sleep, murmuring formulas and scientific explanations that Luigi didn't understand under his breath. Ican's head was on the brunet's chest, his legs tangled with Zexus' and both were whispering softly about food; Ican serenading what he loved and Zexus cursing what he hated. Meric was snuggled up on Luigi's right, knees against his chest, and he was snoring lightly. He smiled softly, thin lips curving up into a real smile, and the brunet wiped away the tear tracks before carefully untangling himself from the others and slipping from the room.

            Eventually the others woke and when they stumbled into the kitchen, it was to the sight of Luigi standing at the stove. He turned at the sound of their footsteps and smiled. It was weak but there, and Elvin returned it. “You gonna be alright going into the mine today?” he asked.

             Luigi gently placed the bowls full of food onto the table and nodded. “I'll be fine. Didn't realize how much I needed that until now, but I feel…better. Not great, but better. I bottled myself up too much and it all came out at once.” He smiled again and said, “I've been taking out my anger on the spirits that bother me, but have been neglecting my other emotions. It doesn't help that I'm currently going through King Boo turmoil.” He sighed, sat down into a seat, and began to eat.

            Elvin shook his head. “Still, it's nice to have the real Lys back instead of some sort of walking, emotionless puppet. In any case, I finished processing the security image and I'm not liking what I'm seeing.” He tapped the table twice and the image appeared mid-air. Luigi choked on his food and began coughing. In the middle of the picture, on the ground, was the familiar shadow of the Boo king. Elvin sighed and zoomed in on the ghosts stuck in the crystals. “What's all this? Did the Boos put these ghosts in there? I wonder why.....”

            Luigi paused and carefully pulled up the information on the strange Sneaker they had found. “Do you think the crystals lead to this?” he asked as the hologram of the marked ghost slowly turned.

            “It might,” Elvin said at last. “And if that's true, then we might have a big problem on our hands.” He sighed and shifted so that they were focusing on the Boos pushing around carts filled with crystals. “It's just like Zexus said: the Boos are running amok. But they seem to be extracting crystals from that quarry. This entire image is giving me a bad feeling and I'm not liking it.” He sighed again and focused on Mario's painting that was trapped in a bag. “They' been dragging him all over Evershade Valley. King Boo really doesn't want Mario released, to the point of making it impossible to reach him. Dammit.” He waved his hand and the image vanished. “What do you guys think?”

            Ican shook his head. “I don't like what I saw.”

            “Neither do I,” murmured Meric.

            Zexus poked his eggs with a fork before eating them. “King Boo, or Kaihau, or whatever, is clearly losing his marbles. I think you need to get down there, Lys, and hope he's still there when you arrive. Maybe if you're fast enough, you can talk some common sense into the fool.”

            Luigi snorted softly and began to laugh. “How soon was that photo taken, Elvin?”

            “Just before you arrived so… yesterday morning.”

            “Hmm. I highly doubt Kaihau will still be there, but it won't hurt if I look.” Luigi stood up and began to head out of the room. “Can you ready the Pixelator, Elvin? I just need to get my stuff.”

            The scientist didn't reply, but lazily waved a fork in the air. Meric snorted. “I'll do it. He's too busy stuffing his face to be of any help.” They both ignored the wounded noise that Elvin made and burst into laughter, Luigi's own fading as he disappeared up the stairs.

            Elvin swallowed and gave Meric a sad look. “Must you make fun of me?”

            “If it gets Lys to laugh, then yes.”

            “Fine,” he muttered and stalked over to the Pixelator, setting the thing up with a few taps of the keys. Luigi slipped into the room a few minutes later, dressed to descend into the mines. He pulled the collar of his trench coat up higher and wrapped a scarf around his neck. The Poltergust was slipped on and he yanked on a pair of gloves. “That reminds me, you'll find E-Gates on your way down. Feel free to use them. Ready?” he asked.

            “Ready,” the brunet said. Elvin nodded and activated the machine.

**oOo**

            Luigi landed softly and moved over to where he had left the elevator. He silently inspected it before stepping in and letting it descend into the ground. On the trip down, he practiced calling on his lightning, working on bringing it to life and then letting it disperse without a trace. His mind wandered, remembering all of the things that he had used it for. Come to think of it, hadn't he also been able to use Ice before? He hummed softly and let the electricity swarm over his hand, curving and shaping it. It was best to make sure he could call upon the ability without harming himself before actually using it in battle. The brunet stepped out into the Airway and began walking across the bridge, absently letting the lightning play across his hands. He turned to the right at the end of the walk and headed towards the door that he'd never accessed before.

            Opening it carefully, Luigi was puzzled by the floating ring sitting on the edge of the cliff. There was a reflective circuit at the top and he nailed it with the Strobe-light, watching curiously as it activated. _Is this one of the E-Gates Elvin mentioned?_ he mentally asked himself. _E-Gates is such a lame name for such a cool invention. They kind of look like small Portals, just the wrong color. I'll call them portals, then._ Finally overcome with curiosity, he poked his hand into it and was startled when it came out of the other portal. “No way,” he breathed and removed his hand to stare at. It was in one piece and he shoved it through again and waved at himself. “This is awesome.” He pulled his hand out again and stepped through the thing and was not surprised to find himself on the other side of the small chasm.

            He glanced down at the frozen key sitting in the barrel and nailed it with a fireball. The ice melted and he proceeded to unlock the door leading to the Skip Slope. At the top of the icy slide was another one of the portals. _The other one must be at the bottom, then. If that's true then I won't have any problems getting back up._ Striding up to the edge of the hill, he settled down and pushed off. Shortly in front of him, the path split into two and he took the right fork, snatching the key as he passed by.

            At the bottom of the Skip Slope was the main portal and he gleefully activated it, but did not step through. To his right was a barrel and shaking it brought out what looked like a small, wind-powered turbine. Luigi was going to bet that it removed the lockers from in front of the door. He spun it violently and watched as his assumption was proven correct and the pathway opened. With a smirk, the brunet unlocked the door and stepped through to the Smuggler's Hideout. It was dark and most of the room had been iced over. Luigi snorted softly at the single log in the fireplace and let his own flames come to life in his hands. Choosing to ignore the frozen door for now, he cleared out everything else before turning to face it. The ice was about halfway melted when the nearby window was hurled open, sending snow whirling around and forcing the brunet to retreat from the biting winds. A Sneaker and two Greenies appeared, cackling gleefully. By now, they were easy to capture and he stomped over and slammed the window shut, wreathing its edges with a bit of lightning as a gift to whoever tried anything next.

            Without even pausing, he melted the rest of the door free and stepped through into the Shaft. As the small lift made its way to the bottom, he watched the multitude of spirits pass by, each carrying a crystal, and his chest ached. Kaihau was slipping, that much was true, and Luigi wondered how much time the Boo king had left before he slipped past the breaking point. How long did he have until Luigi could no longer save him?

            Luigi didn't know and he didn't want to find out, either.

            When the lift reached the bottom of the Shaft, he stepped off and carefully examined the door. It looked like another version of the fountain in the Toolshed and Luigi found himself sighing. He twisted the lever and was not surprised when the door swung violently around. But the brunet was used to it and moved away easily, watching as the door returned to its original position. He flipped it off and glanced around Coward's Chasm. There was nothing there and he marched to the end of the path slipping behind the ice and easily crossing what looked like an uncross-able ravine. A small smirk crawled up his lips and he slunk through the door into Deep Hall.

            It, too, was lit and he glanced around then to his map. The Crystal Quarry was locked, as was the door leading to the Cinder Mine. Then his Duel Scream went off. He picked it up swiftly, hoping rather desperately that nothing had heard it go off. Elvin looked vague amused and mildly irritated. “L--. Are --u there? I can b--ely hear you! Y-u prob-bly made it to t-- v-ry bott-m of the mine. So far, so g--d? T-- Crystal Quarry sho-ld be nearby. Try to f-nd a way in. But whatev-r you do, don't pa--t with cr---a--l!” He vanished.

            Luigi frowned. He hadn't understood the last sentence. There had been too much interference to catch the last part and so he was left with a warning that he didn't know. Blue eyes glanced around, noting how the door to the Cinder Mine was blocked. He frowned, melted the ice keeping him from unlocking the door completely, and removed both blocks. Inside, it was lit, though there was a key stuck in a block of ice. He smoothly melted it and collected the thing, stepping back out into Deep Hall.

            Here he was attacked again. Two Greenies in welding masks and he easily disposed of them and silently walked over to the door leading to the Crystal Quarry. With the click of a lock, it easily slid open and Luigi stepped into the room. The three Boos turned to look at him and disappeared into the ground. “Wait!” he called and one of them paused, half-way through the floor. It cackled and stuck its tongue out at him. “I'm going to guess that Kaihau isn't around here anymore?”

            The Boo stared and floated higher into the air. _“You know our king's name?”_

            Luigi paused, hesitated a bit, and then nodded. “I know his mortal form as well.” His cheeks reddened slightly and he winced at the Boo's knowing smirk.

            _“I see. You have a thing for our leader.”_

            “I can't deny that. He is very good looking.”

           The Boo glanced around and then floated closer, almost as if it was telling a secret that it shouldn’t be. _“Well, whatever you want to do, best get it done quickly. Our king……he is slipping quickly into madness.”_ It vanished through the floor, ignoring Luigi's calls for it to return.

            Inside the crystals, the three ghosts had stopped attempting to get out. They curled in on themselves, screaming in pain, and then thick lines of energy exploded across their skin. Luigi winced and swore under his breath. The Enhanced Slammer broke out first, smashing through the crystal like it was glass and the other two ghosts began laughing.

            They stopped laughing when Luigi used a combination of fire and lightning to remove the Enhanced Slammer from existence, and broke out of their own prisons. The usual strength for Slammers was somewhere around thirty. Enhanced Slammers strength neatly met two hundred and fifty. Sneakers jumped from twenty to a full hundred and Greenies went from ten to fifty. Luigi did the calculations and whimpered. The crystals magnified the strength of ghosts by a lot.

            Everything that went in came out many times stronger.

            “Son of a bitch,” he breathed and shrieked when the Duel Scream went off.

            “What the fu-- just h-ppe--d in th-re? Did I re--ly s-- that? Those Boos fl-d the scene of the cr-me, eh? And you say th-y've been order-ng ghosts to take the cryst-ls away? Well, -n the bright side, you manag-d to capt-re those p-werful gho-ts. I'll need to st-dy th-m. I'm br-nging you b-ck!” He vanished from the screen again and Luigi felt the familiar tug of of the Pixelator.

**oOo**

            Elvin was waiting for him when he got back. “That was amazing. We'll have to be fast though. According to the information that you got from the Boo, Kaihau is fading fast.”

            Luigi dropped the Poltergust on the floor and watched as Zexus took it to be emptied. “I know,” he said. “But we can't move on to the next area where he is without the Dark Moon piece.”

            The scientist nodded. “You know... I've got a theory. That strong ghost you captured back in the Old Clockworks.... Kaihau is not only controlling all of the ghosts in the valley, but he's also figured out a way to strengthen them using the crystals in the mine. Very impressive. As insane as that being is, he has a brilliant mind.”

            “I know,” Luigi whispered, his voice so quiet that it was barely heard. “I don't care how brilliant he is, I just want him to be okay. I want to be on time. I....” He didn't have to finish his sentence. Everyone still heard it. _I want to save him from himself._


	22. D-3: Across the Chasm

Kaihau in an oversized T-shirt. How does he look that good just after waking up? Idk, but Lys hates him for it.

(Note: his shirt says: I did not escape... They gave me a Day Pass.)

 

* * *

            **This game throws such a learning curve at you sometimes. Ugh. Strong (though I call them Enhanced) ghosts are the stuff of nightmares. Especially the Globbers.**

            The next morning the brunet didn't even hesitate. He swooped into the kitchen and sat down, demanding the details before Elvin was even half awake. “Calm down,” he muttered into his coffee, trying to keep himself from falling into the liquid and drowning. His head swayed slightly and Meric grabbed his cup to refill it.

            “I know,” Luigi said, “but I feel like if I hesitate, I'll be too late.”

            There was silence. Elvin's head snapped up and he darted over to the Pixelator. “Well, I'm awake now. And I've finally located the Dark Moon piece.” He typed busily away and the brunet pulled out the Duel Scream just in time to see a building being marked. “The signal us coming from an unlikely place outside of the mine: the distant Workshop! But the Workshop is on the other side of a huge chasm, and the nearby Pixelator camera isn't responding. Luckily, Zexus knows how to get across the chasm.”

            “Indeed,” Zexus chirped up from where he was eating. “There's a gondola that should take you to the Workshop. It's in the Terminal.”

            Elvin shook his head and fixed his glasses. “The weather seems to be getting worse, but the gondola ride shouldn't take too long. All you need to do is board it at the Terminal and ride it across the chasm.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “And if the thing is broken?”

            “Then it gets infinitely harder. You'll have to do it the old-fashioned way and ride the nearby ziplines across.” He smirked. “Let's hope that the gondola works.” He smacked the Pixelator button with his hand and cackled gleefully.

**oOo**

            Luigi landed in the Chalet and shivered. Apparently one of the many resident spooks had opened a window on the upper level and then left it open. As such, ice had formed around the elevator, making it impossible to use. He glanced around and climbed onto the nearby dresser. Carefully positioning himself, the brunet leapt forward, bounced off of the wall and grabbed onto the upper floor where the banister had fallen away. Luigi pulled himself up and stalked over to the window, slamming it closed as hard as he could, before melting away all of the snow with his fire. He hopped down to the lower floor and called on his fire again, clearing away the ice and stepping into the elevator as quickly as possible.

            The Airway was as cold as ever and he darted over to the zipline and grabbed onto one of the holds when it came near. He was lifted off of the ground with ease and carried up through the sky to where the other section was, just outside of the Terminal. He let go once solid ground was again below his feet and moved over to the middle of the room. There, in the once smooth pane of ice, were six huge cracks and two bombs. Luigi's lips twitched up and he activated them, making sure to stay out of range. With each explosion, another bomb appeared until the entire gondola was accessible. But something was off, it looked like it had been frozen to the wall.

            Luigi took a step forward and reached for the door, only to recoil back when a yellow _thing_ burst out of the gondola. He took one look and desperately wanted to scream.

            An Enhanced _Globber?_ Now that was **_not_** fair!

            Not to mention the Enhanced Slammer and Greenie that came with it.

           But the thing that really caught Luigi's attention was the set of chains that wrapped around each ghost's body. He had a feeling he knew what was going to come next, and the brunet was positive that he _wasn't_ going to like it. The Globber spun around, locked the door of the gondola with its yellow chain and then vanished from the Terminal. The Slammer and the Greenie followed right behind, adding their own chain to the mess before vanishing.

            The Duel Scream went off the moment the Terminal brightened. “Da--it!” Elvin practically shrieked, his fury palpable even through the screen. “Th-se are para--rmal cha-ns! They w-n't go away -ntil the ghosts th-t made them are defe-ted.” Luigi flipped the screen closed and clenched his fist, lightning crackling around his flesh. The Enhanced Greenie and the Slammer would be easy. It was the Globber that was going to be more difficult.

            He sighed, stood up, and glanced at his map. _Wonderful, the Globber is the closest._ Luigi turned around and stomped through the door to the Prospector's Crossing, sliding across the ice to the other end. _When I get my hands on Kaihau, I'm going to **throttle** him. _He then sighed. _Well, more like smack him, then kiss him senseless._ With those pleasant thoughts in mind, Luigi moved through the door to Drift Hall and then walked down the stairs towards the Basin.

            The room itself was dark, and Luigi could see the reflection of the Enhanced Globber on the ice. There also seemed to be the reflection of a bomb, but it wasn't there..... Briefly he wondered if it was an illusion and turned the Dark-light Device on it. Within seconds all of the Spirit Balls had been forced out and the brunet gleefully sucked them up before setting off the bomb. It exploded in the Globber's face, making the yellow ghost rear back in pain and leap up out of sight. Three Hiders zipped into the room, choosing three of the four crystal filled crates as hiding spots.

            Luigi gleefully set the crates on fire, stunned all three with the Strobe-light, and then sucked them into the Poltergust. Above him, the Enhanced Globber roared in fury and the only warning Luigi had was three huge splatters of goo hitting the ground. He hurled himself backwards, just barely managing to keep himself from being flattened, and nailed the bastard in the face with a fireball. Nothing. Apparently, Enhanced Globbers were immune to fire. _That_ was a problem. Another test, this time with electricity, proved that, while they were immune to fire, they _weren't_ immune to lightning. Luigi's lips twitched up. He was going to enjoy this immensely.

            Three hundred strength wasn't that bad, especially since Luigi had been expecting the Globber to have closer to five hundred. Lightning made the fight infinitely easier, cutting off fairly large chunks of strength with each hit. Eventually he managed to get the bastard down to where a full Power Charge was enough to suck it into the Poltergust and the yellow chain shattered into nothing. He knew that if he looked into the Terminal, the yellow chain would be missing from the gondola door.

            A glance down at the map showed that the next closest one was the Slammer hiding in the Chalet. Luigi returned to the Airway and took the elevator back up to the main area. The Chalet was dark and he was not surprised to see a chest of drawers rattling on its own. Not willing to get too close, the brunet nailed it with a fireball and watched as the chained Slammer leapt out with a snarl. It vanished up the chimney and three Greenies descended upon the room. None of them were enhanced, and as such, it was very easy to take care of them. Then the Slammer came out. There wasn't anything to distract him and it was easy to stun the red ghost and nail it with several Power Charges and a few fireballs. A final Power Charge sucked it into the Poltergust and shattered the red paranormal chain locking the gondola.

            Luigi's eyes flickered down to the map on his Duel Scream and he sighed. The Greenie was the most out of the way seeing as it had settled down in the Smuggler's Hideout. Turning back towards the elevator, he stepped into it, all the while cursing both Kaihau and Elvin. Kaihau for the situation and Elvin for making him take care of it.

            On one hand, Luigi wanted to slap the Boo king silly. On the other, he wanted to jump in bed with him and get fucked senseless.

            Neither side of his brain was making it easy.

**oOo**

            The Smuggler's Hideout was cold and icy. The sitting suit of armor with the missing arms was rattling cheerfully away, but the standing one with the spear was missing. With a sigh, Luigi revealed the invisible armor and ducked out of the way as it took off the head of the rattling armor. The Greenie leapt out of its hiding spot and darted over to the window, ripping it open and allowing three Sneakers entrance. They were easy to stun with the Strobe-light and capture, and the Greenie appeared from the fire pit the moment Luigi drew near. It only had a hundred strength and was easy to capture with a shock of lightning and a Power Charge, shattering the green chain into nothing. The Duel Scream went off.

            “Good j-b, Lys. That was th- last chain. Time to ride th-t gondola and cross t-- chasm. Posth—te!” Elvin ended the call and Luigi glanced around and headed back towards the Skip Slope. He was rather interested in getting out of there. He was, after all, cold beyond belief. The portal at the bottom of the slope was swiftly activated and he stepped out at the top and headed for the door to the Crossroads. He moved through the air quickly, heading directly towards the ziplines in the Airway.

            He grabbed onto one of the ziplines in the Airway the moment he was close enough and Luigi was swiftly ferried up to the doorway that connected to the Terminal. There the brunet was relieved to see that the gondola was free of chains and he hurried over to open the door. It was also where he found out that the gondola was broken. Completely. He ground his teeth together and stomped over to the only door he hadn't accessed yet. The Highwires. Just then the Duel Scream went off.

            “Lys, can y-- hear me? The g-ndola isn't work-ng -nymore, is it? Fixing it w-uld be way too h-rd! Y-u're going to h-ve to cross th- old-fash--ned way!” And then the scientist was gone.

            Luigi scowled and opened the door to the Highwires. He made his way over to where they were busily moving around and grabbed onto the nearest hold. And then he grabbed the one after that.

            Finally landing on the platform where the gondola was _supposed_ to take him, Luigi opened the door and stepped through to see one long thin rail he would have to cross to reach the Workshop. The brunet sighed under his breath and carefully began to edge down it, making sure that he kept his balance. Falling was _not_ an option. Inch by inch, foot by foot, he slowly got closer towards the other side and actually leapt the last foot when he _was_ close enough. There was a blocked reflecting panel keeping the door to the Workshop closed so Luigi turned and walked towards the Maintenance Room.

            To restart the generator in that room, Luigi was forced to solve a puzzle that involved using bombs to remove some blocks of ice.

            Then the room shook and he knew without even opening the door that he was snowed in.

            Thankfully before his temper could reach its peak, Elvin called. Luigi flipped the Duel Scream open and gave it a very unimpressed look. “Yes?”

            Elvin winced. “Good job activating the camera outside. I'll pixelate you out and send you in to fight the Possessor later on. See you in a little bit.”

**oOo**

            “Welcome back,” Elvin called out cheerfully, a hot cup of cocoa waiting in his hands.

            Luigi eyed it carefully. “Is that for me?”

            “Yes.”

            “Then give it before I bite your hand off.”

            The scientist handed it over with a snort. “Good thing you fixed the generator. We'd be in a fix if we couldn't open the door to the Workshop. And now that the Pixelator camera over there is active, you won't have to mess with that gondola again.”

            “Thank God for small mercies,” Luigi muttered under his breath.

            Elvin pretended not to hear. “Take time to thaw out and relax before the big fight.” He leaned back in his chair and smirked. “Here, I'll wait.....”

            Luigi gave him a sour look and stomped out of the room after dropping the Poltergust onto the ground.

            Meric snickered from where he was in the kitchen. “Nice try, boss.”

            “Damn.”

 


	23. Chilly Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone else go through a shit-ton of blood, sweat, and tears to beat this boss? Or was it just me who screamed bloody murder when they failed for the third time in a row? I've no idea how many times I lost against this fucker, so much so that I refuse to actually play the level again to get the correct dialogue. So this one is 100% improvised. Deal with it.

By popular vote, it's Lys. Lys is a sleepy baby in the mornings, though he can be a true terror when overly emotional. Like usual.

(Note: his shirt says, "I'm not snarky... I'm selectively polite.)

 

* * *

            Luigi stomped into the kitchen the next morning practically breathing fire. Meric was at the stove cooking and he set an omelet down in front of the brunet. He scowled darkly, nodded his thanks, and began eating, occasionally cursing under his breath. Finally the Toad decided that enough was enough. “Lys, what is your problem.”

            “Meric,” the brunet ground out, “I am a sexually deprived ghost hunter who is at the end of his rope. Your idiot boss 'accidentally' blew up my toys in one of his experiments yesterday while I was gone and now I'm getting _nothing_.” The red spotted Toad winced and refilled Luigi's plate when he was done.

            “More coffee?” he asked as he gave back the plate.

            “ _Please._ ” It was a start, but by the end of the meal, Luigi was feeling more less like a fire breathing demon and more like a decent human being. Elvin came in fifteen minutes later, glanced at him, winced, and activated the Pixelator without saying a word. He then opened up the connection and messaged the Duel Scream. Luigi's face appeared and the brunet gave him a vicious scowl.

            Elvin held up his hands. “Look, I'm sorry I destroyed the box. It was an accident. Now, the next Possessor is in the Workshop behind you. Speaking of Possessors, they only showed up when all this started, so I don't know much about them. But I can say one thing for sure: they're smarter than your average ghost. Minus the Boos, of course. Also, they're clearly the most powerful ghosts in the valley. I don't know what the Possessor in the Workshop is going to do and I don't care what you do, just……bring back the Dark Moon piece, alright?”

            “Understood,” Luigi said with an evil smile and then snapped the Duel Scream shut. He turned around and glanced through the window before using the Strobe-light on the reflective screen on the door. It clicked, whirred, and unlocked the thing and he stepped through with a smirk. Waiting on the other side was the Possessor and it screamed shrilly, but Luigi's voice hit higher. He instinctively pulled on his fire, setting the ghost alight and recoiling away. The spirit screamed again, this time in pain, swooped over backwards and merged with the ice in the center of the room.

            The Workshop rumbled, shelves falling and wood cracking as the spirit attempted to escape with the Dark Moon piece, and a barrel knocked down a sled like device. Sensing _something_ coming at his legs, Luigi leapt up and landed on it, a shriek of laughter escaping his lips as he slid down the icy ravine on the sled. The thing had bombs, too, for some reason, and one slid into position to be fired. A little farther down the tunnel was the icy monster that the Possessor had become, and thick planes of ice were appearing to protect its face. Completely ignoring the bombs that he had access to, Luigi held up a hand and gleefully hurled several fireballs across the distance between him and the Possessor. They exploded against the planes of ice, taking them out quickly, and the damn monster began retreating away from him. Luigi frowned, shifted his weight forward, shot of curl of flame out, and removed the last of the ice chunks.

            Immediately the ice monster shot forward, roaring loudly with its mouth wide open, and way too many fangs visible. Luigi blanched and smacked the lever on the side of the bomb shooter, hoping that one would land inside of the things mouth. It did and went off with a bang, forcing the Possessor out of the ice and sending it skidding onto a small, flat piece of ground. Luigi followed right behind, leaping off of the sled and watching it carefully. A familiar shield formed around it and the being shot forward, a small portal forming wherever it was aiming at. By keeping an eye on where the portals were aimed, Luigi was easily able to dodge the series of attacks and charge up the Strobe-light. He released it the moment the Possessor stopped moving, the ghost attempting to shake away its dizziness, and swiftly sucked off the first layer of skin.

            Not appreciating its skin removal at all, the Possessor voiced its fury and retreated back into the ice. Again, the monster formed and Luigi hopped onto the sled as the solid ground they had been on vanished. More icy planes began to cover the ice monster's face and Luigi sighed as he realized that this was _not_ going to be a onetime thing. This time, along with the same eight outside pieces of ice, the center held two chunks. A few bombs, combined with several exploding fireballs, and the defense was removed. The ice monster rushed forward, mouth open to swallow him whole and Luigi fired a bomb straight in. Teeth came within a few inches of snapping on him before the explosion happened and the brunet leapt off of the sled as the Possessor was forced out of the ice.

            Both of them skidded across the small platform, Luigi coming very close to falling off at the end, and eyed each other carefully. More portals appeared as the shield formed around the Possessor and the brunet ducked out of the way of the charge. “Nice try, Sugar,” Luigi purred out as he caught the Possessor –for the second time– with a full charge of the Strobe-light. “You'll have to do better next time.” The second layer of skin slipped off and the spirit gave him the middle finger before vanishing back into the ice. Then the small platform they had been occupying teetered and Luigi lunged for the bomb sled. He barely managed to get back on it when the ice shattered and sent them speeding down the tunnel once again, Luigi's shriek of delight lost in the whipping wind.

            This time the center piece of ice had split into three and it was a bitch to get all of them before the Possessor reformed the ice, but Luigi did it. Teeth lunged forward, a gaping maw coming closer to swallow him whole, only to be stopped by a vicious combination of a bomb and a fireball. The entire ice monster went up into flame as the explosion went off and both Luigi and the Possessor landed on the floor with a gasp. A gasping snarl escaped from the Possessor as it managed to catch its breath and it floated up into the air. Luigi let out a groan and rolled out of the way of the spirit's charging attack before leaping, as best as he could, to his feet. One final charge of the Strobe-light and the Possessor was sucked into the Poltergust, its piece of the Dark Moon clattering to the floor.

            Luigi stood there for a long time, his hands on his knees, his breathing ragged, and his heart hammering away in his chest. He sucked in a deep, frozen breath and let it out, mentally counting to ten. That had been one of the most adrenaline packed fights he'd ever had to deal with. But it sort of made sense. After all, he had been trying to keep the damn ice monster from eating him alive. The brunet stood up and carefully slid his way over to the Dark Moon piece. He picked it up and slipped it into his pocket, grinning madly when the Duel Scream went off. Elvin's face was blurred with static. “L--! C-- --- h--r me? Wh--- --- ---? ---- -----! --- --- -- c-- --- ---! H--- on!” His face disappeared and Luigi immediately felt the familiar pull of the Pixelator.

            “Hey, Elvin!” he chirped out the moment he landed.

            “Where the hell were you, Lys? I could barely follow you!”

            “Umm....” the brunet hummed and tapped his lips. “Probably the bottom of the mine.”

            Elvin sighed. “I was really worried that you were too deep into the mountain for the Pixelator to bring you back. So, did you capture the Possessor? What about the Dark Moon piece?”

            Luigi grinned widely. “Got them both.” He ruffled through his coat and pulled out the shard. “Here. You wanna clean this while I got take a hot shower? My ass is freezing.”

            “And a very nice ass it is, too!” Zexus called from where he was playing cards with the other Toads. “Too bad you're out of my pinching range, or I'd do it in a heartbeat.” From beside him, Ican nodded and laid down a Royal Flush. The other two groaned and folded, watching as the yellow spotted Toad pulled the pot closer to him with a smirk.

            Elvin snorted and tapped a few keys on his keyboard. “Now that the piece has been cleaned, more of the fog has lifted. Shall we take a look?” The familiar map slipped down from the ceiling and a new, huge mansion appeared. “Hmm,” Elvin said and turned back to his keyboard. “That place..... I think I'd better do a reading of it with the Parascope.”

            Seconds later the reading came back and he winced. “Uh-oh. That's not good.”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “Lemmie guess, spook ratings off the charts?”

            “Yup. And you get to go in there.”

            “Great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I've got several more babies in oversized T-shirts left. Your choice is Elvin, Meric, Ican, Zexus, Nita, Denzel, Peach, and Peasley.


	24. E-1: Front-Door Key

Elvin after a long night spend researching when he _should_ have been asleep.

(Note: His shirt says "My favorite drink is the next one.")

 

* * *

 

            Luigi's eyes flickered open and he sighed. After the last glimpse of Kaihau in the Secret Mine, he had been having more and more erotic dreams. They usually left him feeling needy and hot for a long time afterwards, sometimes to the point where he'd have to pleasure himself. Last night had been one of the lighter sleeps, and he had only dreamed of the Boo king once. Sure, it had been one hell of an erotic dream, but he wasn't that bothered. At least, not right now.

            He pulled himself out of bed and slunk down to the kitchen. Elvin was already up and eating a bagel with marmalade, a cup of coffee sitting nearby. Luigi scowled and made his own cup, draining two before he was able to sit down with a third. The scientist glanced up. “I have no idea how you can go through so much caffeine in a day and still manage to sleep at night,” he eventually said.

            The brunet shrugged. “It's a gift. So, uh,” he took a sip and sighed in relief, “what's next?”

            “Well, Lys, the final Dark Moon piece appears to be located in the Treacherous Mansion.”

          Luigi almost choked on his coffee and coughed hard to clear out his throat. “Excuse me, did I hear that right? Treacherous Mansion?”

            Elvin nodded. “You did.”

            “Fuck. The place is probably crawling with spooks. Including that pesky mutt.”

            “Indeed. I'm reading the highest levels of paranormal activity recorded… in the history of forever. King Boo is most likely residing there and he probably doesn't realize that you know he's Kaihau. Expect him to do anything. He probably won't hurt you, but he won't help or stop his minions either. And since he's spent so long in the painting, he's probably not all that sane anymore. Be careful, okay?”

            The scientist sighed and continued. “No paranormal researcher worth their salt would go near the place. Yup, going in there is an absolutely terrible idea… for me! You, on the other hand… Well, you don't really have a choice. You're the only one who can recover the final Dark Moon piece. Go get dressed and I'll Pixelate you into the mansion.”

**oOo**

            Luigi stepped back into the kitchen fifteen minutes later and set about fixing a large thermos of coffee. He gave the scientist a look. “What? It'll be cold there and I'll need it.”

            Elvin sighed and handed over a large green key with a red gem in the handle. “This is the front door key to the Treacherous Mansion. Please don't drop it. If you do, it'll be a lot harder to get into the mansion. I tried to pinpoint the Dark Moon piece, but there's just too much paranormal interference in there.”

            “You mean I'll be going in blind?”

            “Unfortunately, yes. You'll have to look for it the old-fashioned way. Sorry. Good luck and stay safe.” He pressed the red button and Luigi felt himself be sucked into the machine.

**oOo**

            He landed silently on the edge of a ginormous cliff. Luigi blanched, stumbled away from the edge and crumpled to the ground. In front of him was a huge gate and he pulled himself to his feet and carefully pushed it open. The path on the other side had crumbled away to the point where there was little more than a thin rickety bridge made of stone. Deep inside himself the brunet knew that once he crossed over it, there was no coming back. He swallowed the saliva in his mouth and licked his suddenly dry lips and took a step forward. Then another one. And another. Until eventually he was walking quickly, but carefully across the small bridge.

            Once on the other side, Luigi let out a soft breath and began to move forward, leaping back only when the path crumbled underneath his feet. He glanced down and whimpered. There was still a thin path, but it was broken into two sections and he was going to have to jump from one to another. Luigi carefully edged his way down the stone until he was able to leap to the other part of the bridge. He wobbled precariously, but quickly caught his balance and moved as quickly as he dared to safe grounds. The final bridge was the shortest of them all, but it was cracked in several places and Luigi knew that it was going to be a one-way trip. He could go over it, but he couldn't come back.

            He edged down it, and leapt to the other end when it cracked and broke underneath him, just barely managing to land safely. _That does it. I'm going to be taking a vacation after this. This business is bad for my heart,_ Luigi thought with a sigh. He eyed the large, ornate door in front of him and pulled the key out of his pocket. He held it up to inspect it only to shriek softly when it was snatched out of his hands by the damn Polterpup. The mutt landed softly on the concrete and vanished into the shadows to the left. Luigi could _feel_ the vein in his jaw start to throb. _Do not fireball the dog. Do not fireball the dog. DO NOT FIREBALL THE DOG._ His eye twitched.

            The statues on the sides of the door lowered, revealing paths. Luigi sighed and took the one to the right. He could see a break in the window and wanted to see what the Treacherous Mansion was like. He slunk over to the window and glanced in, only to freeze, his heart in his throat. Inside, nearest to him, was a painting of a Toad, and a magenta spotted one standing by a blank canvas. A single Boo moved the filled canvas out of the way and another one dragged over the blank one and the struggling Toad. All the way to the left was King Boo himself, madness burning in his eyes. Luigi felt his heart sink. Elvin had been right. Kaihau really wasn't stable. In fact, he was far from it, but the few times they had interacted, Luigi had seen the man's eyes clear. The brunet seemed to stabilize the mad king.

            King Boo reared back, the gem inside of his crown glowing brightly, and he launched the Toad into the painting. Colors faded and vanished and the finished work was placed with the other one. A Boo took each painting and vanished into the depths of the mansion and King Boo himself disappeared through the floor. Luigi moved back from the window and whined softly in the back of his throat. This was bad. Could he love a mad king enough to bring him back to sanity? _Could he even find Kaihau in time?_ It was a good question, but not one that Luigi had time to answer. He had to recover the key. Now.

            Luigi turned and hurried down the path to the left, ignoring the other broken window. He didn't have time for this. The brunet cursed softly the moment he spotted the mutt sitting on the railing at the end of the Veranda. Raising his hand, he launched a fireball, but the Polterpup was too quick. It leapt off the edge of the railing and disappeared. A quick glance at his map told Luigi that the mutt had probably vanished into the Guard Tunnel. He glanced around. _Now, how to get into the tunnel?_ He eyed the well carefully. _That might work._ Luigi stalked over to the well and planted a foot in the bucket, before putting all of his weight on it. It began to unwind swiftly and he leapt off at the bottom. The well itself was dry, something he had suspected from the beginning. At the bottom was a massive hole and he slunk through it, carefully sneaking down the tunnel. The Guard Tunnel wasn't very long and the Polterpup spotted him immediately, fleeing through the cracked wall at the end. There was no possible way for Luigi to get through that wall and he glanced around for other options.

            Near him was another cracked wall, but this one was easier to get open. He kicked down the broken bricks and leapt backwards when three enhanced Greenies and an Enhanced Slammer appeared. Luigi swore under his breath and formed fireballs in his hands. The Guard Tunnel didn't give him very much room to move, but the brunet managed, ducking under the sword swinging Greenies and taking out the Slammer first. He didn't even try to suck them into the Poltergust. It just wasn't worth the hassle. His temper was shot to hell when one of the sword swinging Greenies managed to take off three inches of his hair. Luigi _froze_.

            And exploded. Fire roared up and he released a massive blast that rolled up the walls and sent the temperature of the area skyrocketing to unbearable levels. It took several tries and lots of deep breaths, but he eventually managed to bring his temper down to a bearable level, though it still simmered underneath his skin. Luigi stomped down the side tunnel, blasting the gate that barred his path into nothing and wrenching the door behind it open. Most of the ghosts that were in the way fled and those that didn't were flamed out of existence. The door on the Cliffside led to the Ceremonial Chamber and he fireballed the webbing on the ceiling before stomping into the main area just in time to see the Polterpup disappear into the floor. Each of the empty basins was lit with fire and he twitched when a chair shot up. Sitting in it was a knight with a long handled axe. Two fireballs appeared and the brunet grinned sharply as the knight stood up. Another knight, standing in the right cavern, moved as well. “I wonder how much heat metal can take before it melts,” he purred out and _pushed_.

            As it turned out, metal could take a _lot_ of heat before it melted. The Enhanced Greenies inside of the suits, on the other hand, could not. The armor crumbled to pieces as they fled and Luigi grinned as he stunned and sucked them into the Poltergust. “Perfect,” he murmured and glanced at the chair. That was most likely going to take him to the next level. He carefully sat in it and watched as it sank into the ground.

            Once at the bottom, he stepped off and glanced at his Duel Scream. The screen had fizzled out, leaving him only the name of the area. The Haunted Catacombs. “Lovely,” Luigi muttered and glanced around. He closed his eyes and walked forward, following his senses. With some careful maneuvering, he made it to the end of the maze without any difficulties. His eyes slid open the moment his hand touched wood and Luigi carefully opened the door. His map said it was the Underground Lab, but gave no other information. Once on the other side of the door, he watched in disbelief as two Greenies attempted to resurrect a suit of armor. When it actually worked, Luigi was really tempted to shout 'It lives!' at the top of his lungs. He barely refrained from doing it and snickered all through sucking up both Greenies and an Enhanced Sneaker.

            He was still snickering when he reentered the Haunted Catacombs and it was only though blind luck that he made it to the Dungeon Cells. Luigi's mouth snapped shut the moment he heard the Polterpup's familiar panting and his eyes gleamed dangerously. There the goddamn bastard was, panting at the base of the staircase. He lunged forward, but the mutt was faster still, and vanished through a wall. Luigi barely managed to keep himself from screaming in absolute fury. He stalked forward, permanently silenced the nearby Enhanced Hider and stormed to the only open cell. The Dark-light Device revealed the bomb in the painting and he yanked the nearby chain to swing the painting around. One more reveal and he stormed into the cell where the Polterpup was hiding. A quick fireball drew it out and the brunet stunned and sucked the mutt into the vacuum. He carefully picked up the front door key and slipped it into a pocket just as the Duel Scream began to sing. “Well done, Lys.” Elvin looked tired. “It's well after midnight now,” he said. “But still, someone needs to put a leash on that damn dog. You're pretty far from the entrance now. It'll be faster for me to bring you back to the Bunker then send you to the entrance.”

            Luigi smiled tiredly. “Actually, let's do that tomorrow. I'm exhausted and I don't fancy traipsing through the Haunted Catacombs again. That area fucked with my head pretty badly.” Luigi didn't mention that he wanted to think over what he had seen Kaihau do to the Toads. Did he even want to save the man anymore?

            “Alright,” Elvin said and tapped a few keys.

**oOo**     

            Luigi landed in the Bunker and stumbled slightly. He shoved the key and the Poltergust into Elvin's hands and stalked down the hallway. He was _exhausted._

            The scientist snorted softly and carefully hooked up the machine to the Vault. His lips quirked up when he noted that the Polterpup hadn't been able to escape this time. “Gotcha now, you gods be damned mutt! Those adjustments to the capture mechanism were just what the doctor ordered.” He glanced up at the screen and hummed thoughtfully.

            Meric poked his head into the room. “You know, now that I think about it, the mansion looks a lot creepier than the last time I saw it. I wonder who's redecorating?”

            Elvin gave him a look. “The Boos, that's who. Lys is acting weird. He probably saw something he didn't like, so leave him alone, okay? Now, I'm going to bed. Goodnight.” Elvin stalked out of the room and Meric sighed.

            “Yeah, yeah. Goodnight to you, too.” He flicked the lights off.

            The room went dark.


	25. E-2: Double Trouble

I was asked for Mario, and here I delivered. *Cackles*

(Note: his shirt reads "Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.")

* * *

            Luigi rolled over and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. He hadn't gotten much sleep, not at all. He'd been too busy thinking about Kaihau and what he was going to do. In the end, the decision hadn't been that hard. He was interested and possibly even falling in love. Scratch that, he had fallen in love. Right from the very beginning. And damn if Luigi wasn't going to try and help the spirit.  He sighed softly and sat up. It was nearing seven in the morning and he just couldn't sleep any longer. The brunet slunk down to the kitchen fully dressed and greeted Meric with a soft hello. The Toad nodded back and went back to frying the bacon. Luigi stole a finished piece and ducked the tongs with a laugh. They were chatting quietly over a plate of bacon and fruit when Elvin stumbled into the kitchen. His eyes were narrowed against the light and he was grumbling under his breath.

            He sank into a seat and stole Meric's coffee. The Toad didn't complain, instead getting up to make himself another cup. Finally, Elvin glanced up. “That's not good. That's not good at all.”

            Luigi met his gaze. “What's not good?”

            “I spent a good chunk of the night monitoring the paranormal readings in the Treacherous Mansion. For some mysterious reason, they kept getting stronger. With the Parascope going crazy like this, there's no way it'll be able to find the Dark Moon piece. I'm also worried about the safety of my Toad assistant. See, the mansion contains exhibits full of artifacts from all over Evershade Valley and beyond. They're very valuable, so I sent a Toad curator to look after them.”

            The brunet paused slightly and glanced over to Meric. “Don't you mean 'assistants'?”

            “No. Assistant.”

            Meric shook his head. “No, Elvin. Both Nita and Denzel work in the mansion. It's so big that two Toads were needed to cover everything.”

            Elvin paused and stared at Meric for a long time. “Uh oh, “ he muttered. “These readings aren't good. Lys, I'm sending you in to get both of them out of there, is that understood?” He began typing frantically on the keyboard. “If it's any consolation, they might know where the ghosts are hiding the Dark Moon piece.” Luigi didn't mention that he knew where the last piece was. Inside of King Boo's crown. “Just,” the scientist began as he gave Luigi a slow look, “don't lose the key again. Please.”

            He tapped a few keys on the board and the Luigi sighed softly as the Pixelator activated. He grabbed his trench coat and waved softly. “See you guys later.”

**oOo**

            Luigi landed silently at the entrance to the mansion and slipped the key into the lock. It turned easily and he pushed it open. It was pitch black and the brunet, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand, glanced behind himself. A wave of terror washed over him and his head snapped back around to the doorway, just in time to see King Boo vanish. “Dammit,” he swore. If he hadn't looked away, he might have been able to talk to Kaihau. _If wishes were horses, beggars would ride._ He sighed under his breath and stepped into the Treacherous Mansion. He had two Toads to find and rescue.

            Glancing around the Front Entrance, Luigi took the path to the left and walked swiftly down the West Gallery towards the Dark Age Exhibit. Inside of the room, the Iron Maiden was rattling and he carefully opened it, fully expecting the Enhanced Hider that popped out. It was swiftly stunned and captured, along with the second Enhanced Hider and the Enhanced Bucket Greenie that also appeared. Luigi only relaxed once the room had brightened and he curiously opened the chest at the end of the room. Inside was a red book and he returned it to its spot on the shelf, and watched as the entire bookcase slid down, revealing a portal that returned him to the Front Entrance.

            He gingerly stepped out of the portal and turned towards the East Gallery. A good chunk of the right-most part had been taken over plants and the brunet correctly guessed that it was a nature exhibit of some kind. A glance at the map told him it was the Jungle Exhibit. He carefully crossed over the wooden bridge, noting the second door as he passed by, and headed directly for the portrait of the Toad behind the waterfall. He was halfway through revealing the Toad when one of those damn Venus Flytrap exploded from the ground and Luigi leapt back with a shriek, an instinctive fireball forming in his hand. But the waterfall protected the beast and the brunet scowled then noticed two spear wielding, Enhanced Greenies to take his agitation out on. He fireballed both of them, burning up their weapons and flashing them with the Strobe-light. They were quickly captured and the Luigi carefully edged past the gigantic plant. He was just barely out of its reach.

            At the end of the path was a area with a lower rail and Luigi vaulted right over it. He landed silently on the ground and slunk through another waterfall to open up the Jungle Exhibit's portal. He stepped through and made a beeline for the Dark Ages portal. There was a bucket in that room. Another quick jump and Luigi was back. He filled the bucket and dumped it on the plants that needed it, and the brunet was delighted to see that one of them was a spiky plant. He carefully picked it and moved over to the Spring Flower. Jumping onto it sent Luigi flying up to the main level and the brunet gleefully fed the Venus Flytrap the plant. It screamed in pain and collapsed, dying away quickly. Luigi glanced up at the portrait and shook his head. He'd remove the Toad from it later. Right now he was going to clear out all of the ghosts.

            The second door in the Jungle Exhibit lead to the Grand East hall and he cautiously slunk down it. There didn't seem to be anyone there, but appearances could be deceiving. Really deceiving. He slipped into the nearby Restrooms, and snorted softly before capturing an Enhanced Slammer. It roared as he captured it and Luigi wouldn't be surprised if every ghost in the area knew he was around. The room was still dark and the brunet decided to reveal the missing door and clear out that side as well. It certainly wouldn't hurt.

            _Hurt is a relative term,_ Luigi thought as he rubbed his sore shoulder. An Enhanced Greenie had gotten him but good when he was clearing out the other side and he really smarted. But at least the Restrooms had been cleaned out. He still wasn't sure about the Grand East hall though. He'd walked up and down it several times, but no ghosts had shown their faces, so Luigi had moved on to the Ancient Exhibit. Inside was a sand pit and a huge Egyptian statue with two reflecting panels for eyes. He carefully nailed them with the Strobe-light and winced slightly when the sand began to drain out. It continued draining until Luigi was standing at the base of the statue. He broke open the base to reveal the portal for the Ancient Exhibit and sequentially released four Enhanced Greenie Mummies. They went up in flames fairly easily, seeing as the Ghosts still hadn't figured out that he could produce his own flames, and the brunet smoothly stunned and sucked all four into the Poltergust. One more charge of the Strobe-light, and the Ancient Exhibit's portal to the Front Entrance was activated.

            Carefully making his way up to the main floor of the Ancient Exhibit, Luigi stepped through the door to the still dark Grand East hall. He walked quickly through it, watching everything as best as he could, but there was no movement. The door near the Restrooms led to the Inner Courtyard and the brunet quickly crossed through it. He really didn't want to deal with anything that was in this area. He was halfway across the area when the Duel Scream went off. Luigi flinched and immediately set it on vibrate before picking it up. Elvin's face appeared clearly. “Lys,” the scientist murmured softly, understanding the need to be quiet, “the Pixelator Screen must be somewhere above you. To bring the Toads back, you'll need to figure out how to reach it.” He cut off the connection with a nod and Luigi glanced around. On the balconies above him was the screen and his eyes narrowed. It probably had something to do with the statue of the gargoyle holding the cages. He huffed softly and turned towards the door that lead to the Grand West hall. He had one more Toad to find and he was probably in the Ice Age Exhibit.

            Grand West was dark as well, but the Kitchens were lit and empty. He glanced around them before nodding and closing the door. There wasn't anything for him to deal with there. As he made his way down the hall, Luigi paused and then hurled himself out of the way as a tea cart smashed into the wall where he had been seconds before. The brunet cursed softly and glanced around, but still saw nothing.

            He breathed in slowly and quietly stepped into the Ice Age Exhibit. A nearby igloo held the portal and he activated it, watching carefully for any reaction. Nothing. The nearby ice sculpture held the other Toad and a small chest containing a hundred bucks. Luigi formed a ball of fire and smoothly melted the ice and stepped into the room. He turned the Dark-light Device onto the portrait and released the Toad with a sigh. The magenta spotted Toad let out a cry of delight. “Finally! Fresh air!” He glanced around and smiled widely when he saw Luigi. “Oh… Luigi! Boy, am I glad to see you.”

            Luigi shook his head. “I go by Lys now. So, which one are you?”

            “Huh?” The Toad scrunched up his nose in confusion.

            The brunet sighed. “Are you Denzel or Nita?”

            “Oh, I'm Nita. I guess you've met Meric then?” Nita asked.

            Luigi laughed softly. “Yeah, I've met Meric. And Ican. And Zexus. Denzel is the only one I haven't met. He's still in his portrait in the Jungle Exhibit. I wanted to make sure that I found both of you before releasing anybody. I'll give you the same rules that I gave Meric. Don't be loud, don't alert spirits, and don't get in my way when I fight. Okay?”

            Nita nodded. “Those are fair. Especially since I don't fight. Or at least, not very much. Usually there aren't this many spirits around. But I did get to see King Boo and that's pretty cool. Even if he did seal me in a painting.” Luigi winced slightly and tried not to sigh.

            “Shall we go rescue Denzel?”

            “Sure. Lead the way, Lys.” The second they stepped out of the ice sculpture, purple gates slammed down and Luigi sighed. Nita scurried out of the way and three Enhanced Greenies slid out of the ice chute. The brunet paused, charged up the Strobe-light, and nailed all three with one go. They were easily sucked into the Poltergust and Nita peeked up from where he was hiding. “Nice. Don't think the Professor ever handled the Poltergust that well,” he said as he made his way over. Luigi opened the door and bowed politely. The Toad snorted and glanced around the dark Grand West hall.

            “Let me go first,” the brunet murmured. “I still haven't cleared this area out.” They were halfway down the hall when two Enhanced Sneakers popped out of nowhere, making Nita shriek loudly. Luigi reacted instinctively, fireballs forming immediately and sending the smoking spirits skidding backwards. They shrieked in anger and lunged forward, both pink ghosts making the mistake of diving directly into the Strobe-light's range. They were swiftly captured.

            Nita peeked around the tea tray and said with a shaking voice, “Like I said. You handle that thing much better than the Professor. He's only thirty five and we were terrified that he'd accidentally kill himself.” Luigi snorted and beckoned the Toad.

            “Come on. We need to get to the Jungle Exhibit.” He swept down the hall that lead to the Inner Courtyard and opened the door. “Oh, and I haven't cleared out the Grand East hall either.” They moved through the courtyard and Luigi pulled open the door to the darkened Grand East. Nita pressed himself against the wall and the brunet carefully charged up the Strobe-light. But the moment they entered the area, it automatically brightened and Luigi released the charge. “Guess the two Sneakers were for both halls,” he muttered. “This way.” He took a sharp right and moved swiftly down the hall, Nita jogging to keep up.

            The Jungle Exhibit was exactly as Luigi had left it and the brunet strode over to the waterfall. Denzel was easily released and he snorted softly as the two Toads hugged each other. Seconds later, his Duel Scream went off. He opened it and gave Elvin a look. “Have you been napping?”

            The scientist spluttered. “Of course not! I've been searching for the Dark Moon piece!”

            Luigi rolled his eyes. “You have a bad case of pillow face, Elvin. Anyway, I've got both Toads. I'll just send them through the Pixelator Screen in the Inner Courtyard, then.” He flipped the screen closed and glanced at the Toads. “Nita, Denzel. There's a Pixelator Screen on the second floor of the Inner Courtyard. Any idea as how to get up there?”

            The two glanced at each other and shook their heads. “Nope,” Denzel said. “We've got nothing. Sorry.”

            “Ah, well,” Luigi muttered. “I'll figure it out when I get there.” He held the door to Grand East open for the two and let it swing shut behind himself. Ahead of him, he could faintly hear Nita telling Denzel that he could produce fire without a Fireflower. Denzel was, appropriately, taking Nita's story with a truck-load of salt. The brunet snorted softly and lead them into the Inner Courtyard. Luigi glanced up at the cages hanging from the statue and an idea came to him. “Nita, Denzel,” he called. “Can each of you hop up into one of the cages?” The two Toads glanced at each other and nodded, immediately seeing what the young man was talking about. They scrambled up into the cages and watched as their weight dragged it down. Then, a Boo appeared. Nita screamed and pressed himself back against the cage and Denzel made a noise of horror.

            The Boo cackled loudly. “Boopa Troopa, reporting for duty! The Boo armies are here, so you might as well surrender!” It then vanished. Luigi sighed under his breath.

            “Dammit,” he swore and released a series of fireballs. The three Enhanced Sneakers were annoying, but it was the Boo that was the worst of all. But Luigi dispatched them quickly and turned his attentions towards Boopa Troopa. The Boo had reappeared and was sweating nervously in the center of the courtyard. Luigi beckoned the spirit closer and launched multiple fireballs at it. Then he grabbed it by its tongue and slammed it into the ground as hard as he could. It bounced, dazed, across the courtyard and he used it as a pogo stick, bouncing down hard enough to slam it into the Poltergust and not feeling an ounce of guilt. Denzel peeked out from behind a large stone, Nita at his side. The Green spotted Toad's eyes were wide, and he eyed Luigi with a sense of awe.

            “Wow,” Denzel breathed out. “That was amazing.”

            The brunet sighed and beckoned them forward. “Up into the cages, please. We shouldn't have any more interruptions.” The two Toads nodded and they hopped into the metal. Again the gargoyle's arms were weighted down and the stones slabs covering the reflective panels disappeared. Luigi backed up as far as he could and released a fully charged Strobe-light. Immediately the statue slid backwards and the ground beneath it parted to reveal a spiral staircase that rumbled, and lifted itself into position. Luigi sniffed softly and gestured towards the steps. “Shall we?” They laughed softly and hurried up.

            Luigi paused as the twin Toads disappeared through the Pixelation Screen when something caught his eye. He shut off the Duel Scream, stepped through the doorway next to the screen, and peered up at the large painting that was hanging on the wall. “Son of a _bitch_ ,” he muttered. “At least that answers where Mario's painting is.” He frowned and stared at it for a few more minutes. “Now the question is, do I release him?” Eventually the brunet sighed and flicked on the Dark-Light Device and pointed it at the painting. Colors began to swarm back into the canvas and Mario fell out of it. He landed on the ground with a thud and Luigi scowled. “Come on,” he snapped out. “You need to get out of here.”

            Mario gave him a dirty look, but thankfully it was too dark for him to notice the changes Luigi had gone through. The brunet spun around and began to stalk towards the door, throwing the Poltergust over one shoulder. “Exit's this way. Down the staircase and through the door to the left. Follow it through the hall, turn right twice more and you'll be in the Entrance Hall. Front door is in that room.” There was the faint sound of a sword being drawn.

            He spun around just in time for Mario to shove the blade into his stomach. Blood began to flow freely as Luigi collapsed to the ground and it quickly puddled around him. Blue met blue and Mario smirked just as he left the room. The brunet coughed roughly, fingers trying to staunch the wound. But the blade had gone all the way through him, and there was so much blood. He keened softly. _Figures. I should have known better._

_I'm sorry.... Kaihau...._ It was becoming harder to breathe and the shadows seemed to be growing longer.

_Elvin.... I failed._

_Meric, Nita, Denzel, Zexus, Ican..... I'm sorry, I won't be making it back this time._

He closed his eyes slowly and attempted to focus on breathing. It wasn't really working. The last thing he remembered before it all went black was the sound of footsteps.

 

* * *

**BONUS:**

** **

_**My Mario painting is lonely. I need a Luigi paining,** too._

 

 


End file.
